Sleep: Volume Two (LP)

Before Holy Mountain. Before Dopesmoker. There was Volume Two. Sleep's debut EP, released in 1992 on Off the Disk Records, is where the blueprint was drawn: slow, crushing, Sabbath-worshipping doom with a fuzz tone thick enough to lose yourself in. The cover art pays direct homage to Black Sabbath's Vol. 4, and the music follows through on that promise.

The tracklist is a document of the band at the very beginning, and it rewards close listening. An early live cover of Black Sabbath's Lord of This World anchors the record, while proto-versions of The Druid and Nain's Baptism appear here in rougher, rawer form before being refined for Holy Mountain. Hearing them in this state is a rare glimpse into how Sleep built their sound from the ground up.

Essential for any serious collector of stoner and doom metal. The beginning of one of the most important catalogues in heavy music.

Format: LP
Cat: SLEE 01
Label: Off the Disk Records
Originally released: 1992
Genre: Stoner Metal / Doom Metal