To the sober ear, the drawn-out chugging riffs, which are the foundation of the band's sound, come off as stretched and border dangerously on the verge of repetition. But stoned, those riffs are ploughing the fields of your mind, pulling you into a deep hypnotic state washing everything away with rich distortion.
The essential trick of The Sciences—and the reason it feels like more than an overdue cash-in—is these 40something dudes have managed to grow up without growing old. Their minds are still focused on weed and the escape that it offers, but that’s just the gag; these riffs, rhythms, and the mantra-like singing of Al Cisneros are a drug unto themselves, evidence of a band that’s improved upon their animating idea.
The Sciences is good because, unlike a lot of music influenced by Black Sabbath, it distills the greatest aspects of Sabbath and presses them on into infinity: the huge riffs, the psychedelic backdrops, the wayfaring solos.
The Sciences may not be as daring and ambitious as Dopesmoker, but it finds Sleep working at the top of their game in the studio, and their resinous howl is still a weird marvel to behold.
After splitting up in disillusion over the London affair, Al Cisneros’s crew reconvened in 2009 for sporadic activity, and have customarily not rushed into nailing The Sciences, nor departed from their rubric of Burroughsian ganja myth-spinning ... set to eardrum-busting, down-tuned slo-mo jams.
Stoner metal titan Sleep makes a hell of a comeback with The Sciences, which encompasses both the band's classic sound and influences from the members' other creative endeavors over the past 15 years.
Ahhhh now this album is a nice refreshing break from the emo that all my watchers constantly corner me into listening to. Just heavy riffs... rewarding songs with massive song lengths... it just feels good.
I cannot get behind these vocals though, they are certainly dull in comparison to what I would expect from a "Doom Metal" sound.
i m lying on the floor listening to this cuz headphones became too heavy from all the riffs like F*ck man!
1 | The Sciences 3:03 | 74 |
2 | Marijuanaut's Theme 6:39 | 87 |
3 | Sonic Titan 12:26 | 86 |
4 | Antarcticans Thawed 14:23 | 82 |
5 | Giza Butler 10:02 | 86 |
6 | The Botanist 6:27 | 79 |
#5 | / | Revolver |
#9 | / | Vulture |
#20 | / | The Needle Drop |
#22 | / | Decibel |
#28 | / | Treble |
#36 | / | MOJO |
#39 | / | Digital Trends |
#43 | / | Pitchfork |
#46 | / | Gigwise |
#46 | / | Rolling Stone |