Sleep is a band that needs no introduction.  If you don’t know who they are by now, then there is nothing I can do to help you and you might as well move along (wait, please don’t go, I need the clicks and validation).  Still though…Hemispheres might be an album that needs a little introduction.  See, this ain’t the Sleep of yore; this is either a revitalized and refreshed lineup ready for a killer second half to the band’s tenure, or it’s the Al Cisneros show and none of them really know when to hang up the name.  Depends on who you ask.

Can’t really talk about Hemispheres without addressing the elephant in the room: this is the first Sleep album without Matt Pike on guitar.  Not a lot of information is out there on exactly why Pike is no longer a part of the band.  Again, it kind of depends on who you ask, and it’s not for me to speculate or posit that I have any insider information.  Needless to say, there is quite a large void (tee hee) to fill in Pike’s absence.  It’s also worth noting that longtime drummer Jason Roeder is not returning for this album as well.  In that case, there is plenty of information out there about his “unceremonious” firing from the band.  As a power trio, that leaves you with, by my math, one guy left to hold it all together.  So how do you possibly have the gumption to carry on?  Well, if you’re Al Cisneros, it’s kinda what you do.  But also, you get by with a little help from your friends.  First came along acclaimed drummer of the Melvins and teenage friend of Cisneros Dale Crover.  His is a name that carries with it the kind of pedigree it takes to step behind the kit of a band like Sleep, and anyone even remotely familiar with either or both projects should see this as a no-brainer.  Then along came Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil, who is not joining the band or playing on the album, but did recommend one Bubba Dupree of the D.C punk band Void.  Perhaps an outsider choice, but one that still seems to hold the spirit of Sleep intact and well.

So, how do the new members, and Hemispheres by extension, match up to their expectations?  Swimmingly, actually!  The best thing that I or anyone else can say about Hemispheres is that it sure sounds like a Sleep album.  Obviously, Pike has a guitar style all his own, but so does Dupree, and while there is a ton of overlap in all the places you would want there to be, Dupree adds his own twist on a classic formula.  You can count on there being plenty of juicy, beefy riffs that wax poetic at the altar of Iommi, you can count on the rumble and grumble of the intersection between Cisneros’ bass and Crover’s drums shaking the foundations of the house, and you can count on the kind of fuzzy, chillaxed vibes that take your mind elsewhere as soon as you hit play.  That being said though, Sleep are not without some twists and turns up their sleeves, and Dupree especially rises to the momentous occasion with aplomb.  Slide guitar is not something I thought I would ever need in a Sleep song, but Dupree’s bluesed out slide work is a standout feature of Hemispheres, and it’s an awesome way for him to throw his own voice into the mix in a way that honors tradition while expanding on it at the same time.  Seriously, the extended solo that closes the title track is the kind of grin-inducing righteousness that should lay any fears any true Sleepyheads might have to rest.  Honestly, my biggest complaint about Hemispheres is that I wish the production was a little beefier, especially in the guitars.  I think the album deserves a little more girth than it has, because Bubba, Cisneros and Crover are all playing their absolute guts out.

Hemispheres might not be a game-changing, earth-shattering return to form, but it is as solid as any Sleep release has ever been (post-Dopesmoker, I guess).  There’s no question that Cisneros and the new crew still have what it takes to churn out the fogged-out, groove-laden doom metal that they have come to basically be the poster children for.  The only question that remains is this: do you think these guys smoke weed?

— Ian

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Hemispheres will be available September 3 on Third Man Records.  For more information on Sleep, visit your local drug dealer their Facebook page.