In an unexpected evolution of heavy rock, Californian trio Sleep took the neo-Sabbath template previously presented by bands like Pentagram and advanced it to a new level of complexity and sonic delirium. Around a set of the most brilliantly and unashamedly adolescent SF/fantasy lyrics since Hawkwind, Sleep construct vast walls of brain-blasting psychotropic sounds, a super-heavy trip to the heart of the molten sun. Sleep’s Holy Mountain is often referred to as the foundational recording of “stoner rock” – presumably due to
the recurring word “stoner” in the lyrics – a quite limited musical sub-genre whose epic crowning work, Dopesmoker, was also created by Sleep a few years later.