DOPESMOKER - Sleep

Due to my brother's love of metal and psychedelic music, I was able to listen to Sleep's Dopesmoker album on vinyl. This was my first experience with listening to a concept album in full, and in one sitting. Released in 1998, '"Dopesmoker" tells the story of a caravan of ''weed-priests'' travelling across the ''sand-sea'' in search of the ''riff-filled land'' so as to fulfil their ''desert legion smoke-covenant' (New York Times). Reading this I was immediately intrigued, I thought the concept was hilarious and poetic and the same time...  

If you aren't familiar with 'Stoner Metal' you might find it challenging to engage with it at first. The rough low pitched singing and the non-conventional song length might put you off, but I would recommend it non the less. The album is sort of ambient that way and works well as background noise while working. If you like electric guitar and like the idea of a 1-hour song, definitely consider listening to it! 

Cover Art

---

Arik Roper

I enjoy collecting physical music, and when I see an interesting vinyl cover I buy it without any knowledge of the genre. I am more familiar with art than music after all. All I have to say about the cover art is that it's amazing, omfg I love it so much. The art is reminiscent of the old Dune book covers...

... high in saturation, with a lot of negative space. The elements are vibrant and visualise the story of the concept album. When looking at the subject you can't help but imagine where they came from, where they are, what the ship in the background is for, and whether their inhaling weed smoke using the tubes attached to their faces (lol). I love art that tells a story. 

That's it for now TTYL