Sure to send metalheads into a bong-blazing frenzy, California stoner icons Sleep are set to release a new deluxe edition of their fabled Dopesmoker through Southern Lord.
A press release from the label doesn't give the street date, but the redux was remastered from the original tapes. "The audio is clearer, louder, and at last brings a true representation of Sleep's hour-plus Weedian chronicle," a statement reads. The reissue will also feature new artwork from longtime visual collaborator Arik Roper.
The monolithic metal jam was initially recorded in the mid-'90s, but the band's label at the time, London Records, balked at releasing the one-track epic, which presented the troupe's zoned-out doom riffs at their most undiluted. With their masterpiece in limbo, the band broke up over the snafu in 1997.
The dank nugget sat on the shelves for a few years before being chopped up into sections for 1999's Jerusalem. Tee Pee Records later issued the set as is in 2003.
The Tee Pee version added live bonus cut "Sonic Titan" to their version of Dopesmoker, but Southern Lord ups the ante by swapping that concert clip for a full performance of the troupe's equally iconic Holy Mountain, which was captured in San Francisco in 1994.
In addition to the deluxe edition of Dopesmoker, Sleep's on-again, off-again concert schedule has them touring Europe this spring. You can see those dates below.
Dopesmoker:
1. Dopesmoker
2. Holy Mountain (Live at the I-Beam SF, CA 1994)
Tour dates:
4/14 Tilburg, Netherlands - Roadburn Festival
5/3 Wroclaw, Poland - Asymmetry Festival ^
5/4 Copenhagen, Denmark - Amager Bio ^
5/5 Oslo, Norway - Betong ^
5/6 Stockholm, Sweden - Strand ^
5/8 Helsinki, Finland - Tavastia ^
5/9 Berlin, Germany - Berghain ^
5/10 Leipzig, Germany - Conne Island ^
5/11 Prague, Czech Republic - Lucerna Music Bar ^
5/12 Budapest, Hungary - Club 202 ^
5/13 Zagreb, Croatia - Tvornica Kulture ^
5/14 Vienna, Austria - Arena ^
5/16 Rome, Italy - Circolo Degli Artisti ^
5/17 Cortemaggiore, Italy - Fillmore Club ^
5/18 Bern, Switzerland - Dachstock ^
5/19 Dortmund, Germany - Fzw ^
5/20 Athens, Greece - Gagarin 205
5/22 Glasgow, Scotland - The Arches ^
5/23 Dublin, Ireland - Button Factory ^
5/24 Leeds, England - Stylus ^
5/25 London, England - I'll Be Your Mirror
5/26 Paris, France - Villette Sonique
5/27 Antwerp, Belgium - Trix ^
5/28 Munich, Germany - Feierwerk ^
5/31 Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Sound
^ with A Storm of Light
A press release from the label doesn't give the street date, but the redux was remastered from the original tapes. "The audio is clearer, louder, and at last brings a true representation of Sleep's hour-plus Weedian chronicle," a statement reads. The reissue will also feature new artwork from longtime visual collaborator Arik Roper.
The monolithic metal jam was initially recorded in the mid-'90s, but the band's label at the time, London Records, balked at releasing the one-track epic, which presented the troupe's zoned-out doom riffs at their most undiluted. With their masterpiece in limbo, the band broke up over the snafu in 1997.
The dank nugget sat on the shelves for a few years before being chopped up into sections for 1999's Jerusalem. Tee Pee Records later issued the set as is in 2003.
The Tee Pee version added live bonus cut "Sonic Titan" to their version of Dopesmoker, but Southern Lord ups the ante by swapping that concert clip for a full performance of the troupe's equally iconic Holy Mountain, which was captured in San Francisco in 1994.
In addition to the deluxe edition of Dopesmoker, Sleep's on-again, off-again concert schedule has them touring Europe this spring. You can see those dates below.
Dopesmoker:
1. Dopesmoker
2. Holy Mountain (Live at the I-Beam SF, CA 1994)
Tour dates:
4/14 Tilburg, Netherlands - Roadburn Festival
5/3 Wroclaw, Poland - Asymmetry Festival ^
5/4 Copenhagen, Denmark - Amager Bio ^
5/5 Oslo, Norway - Betong ^
5/6 Stockholm, Sweden - Strand ^
5/8 Helsinki, Finland - Tavastia ^
5/9 Berlin, Germany - Berghain ^
5/10 Leipzig, Germany - Conne Island ^
5/11 Prague, Czech Republic - Lucerna Music Bar ^
5/12 Budapest, Hungary - Club 202 ^
5/13 Zagreb, Croatia - Tvornica Kulture ^
5/14 Vienna, Austria - Arena ^
5/16 Rome, Italy - Circolo Degli Artisti ^
5/17 Cortemaggiore, Italy - Fillmore Club ^
5/18 Bern, Switzerland - Dachstock ^
5/19 Dortmund, Germany - Fzw ^
5/20 Athens, Greece - Gagarin 205
5/22 Glasgow, Scotland - The Arches ^
5/23 Dublin, Ireland - Button Factory ^
5/24 Leeds, England - Stylus ^
5/25 London, England - I'll Be Your Mirror
5/26 Paris, France - Villette Sonique
5/27 Antwerp, Belgium - Trix ^
5/28 Munich, Germany - Feierwerk ^
5/31 Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Sound
^ with A Storm of Light
