Is Sleep’s Dopesmoker nonetheless the heaviest album of all time?

Sleep’s Dopesmoker is legendarily heavy. On any midway respectable sound system, it’ll rattle your ribcage. It’s type of like being slowly assaulted by a therapeutic massage chair. In 2015, Guitar World named it the heaviest album ever recorded. “You’ll positively not discover something heavier,” wrote Ethan Varian.

On November sixth, for no motive specifically, I used to be in the precise temper to just accept that problem.

I wished a riff that may flatten me. I listened to 26 extraordinarily heavy albums, beneficial by mates and strangers. 4 challengers made it to a semi-final spherical, the place I listened to them back-to-back adopted by Dopesmoker. One album was so heavy I did the back-to-back pay attention 3 times.

And I’ve to say: I’ve discovered one thing heavier.

However to start, we’ve got to debate heavy as an aesthetic. Heavy is, one way or the other, not the identical as brutal or aggressive. The purpose is getting bludgeoned: rhabdomyolysis, osteolysis, being left crushed on the pavement.

Dopesmoker is the usual I’m measuring in opposition to. It’s such an intense album that if I’m listening to Dopesmoker, that’s just about all I’m doing. The 2022 model of the album, a remaster for streaming companies, consists of two songs: “Dopesmoker” and “Scorching Lava Man.” 

“Dopesmoker” the tune is multiple hour lengthy. It’s characterised by a pounding megalithic riff, which varies barely on every repetition. It’s probably the loudest minimalist composition I’ve ever heard. The guitars are downtuned two steps from normal tuning, which makes them sound denser. There’s a ton of bass that always echos the guitar and makes it sound even heavier. 

The tune strikes like a granite statue come to life. The guitar, the bass, and the vocal observe all transfer collectively like a hymn. It takes eight minutes to get to the enduring first line: “Drop out of life with bong in hand.” The vocals sound like chanting. The drums are recessed within the combine — the cymbals are what’s most noticeable — and pretty easy.

“Dopesmoker” is thick. It’s additionally sluggish. That’s what makes it so visceral. The guitar solos, whereas wonderful, should not actually answerable for heaviness. Largely, they render the riffs heavier by comparability.

Throughout my quest to match or exceed this normal for heavy, the most typical options I obtained have been Electrical Wizard’s Dopethrone, Bongripper’s Devil Worshipping Doom, and Boris’s Amplifier Worship. I dropped all of the options I might right into a Spotify playlist and made observe of those I’d must take heed to on Bandcamp. Some bands, akin to Sunn O))) and The Physique, had a number of entries.

Listening to all 26 albums I collected was sluggish going as a result of I solely listened. This wasn’t background music. Normally, I’d sit down and simply deal with an album per day.

If I needed to isolate a typical musical lineage all of the albums in competition, it’s Black Sabbath. (Duh?) There’s a sort of purist high quality to the Sabbath worship, significantly from Church of Distress and the subgenre of stoner steel. One of many different albums in consideration was Godflesh’s Streetcleaner, which was putting on this context; it was surrounded by materials it had clearly impressed. The 2 different bands I’d level to as formative for the hunt for heaviness are the Melvins and Sunn O))), which was the one band that freaked out my cat.

The heaviest tracks I listened to on my quest have been aggressively anti-commercial; it’s arduous to think about them being performed on company radio. Black Boned Angel’s Verdun is one tune that’s nearly 52 minutes lengthy. Khanate’s self-titled album appears totally bored with ideas akin to “grooves,” “tune construction,” and “sanity.” Shallow North Dakota’s Mob Wheel was bludgeoning.

Famously, Dopesmoker itself wasn’t initially launched as a result of it had no business prospects. London Information had promised Sleep full artistic management after which, upon listening to the album, shelved it. (This was among the many tensions that led to the band’s breakup.) 

The slowness that makes music actually heavy stands in distinction to TikTok-ified music, which is mostly sped up if it’s not already upbeat.  It was refreshing to listen to music that felt insistent on itself as an expertise.

From all my listening, 4 contenders emerged: Boris’s Amplifier Worship, Hell’s Dwell at Roadburn, Bongripper’s Empty, and The Physique / Thou’s collaboration Launched from Love / You, Whom I Have At all times Hated.

It appeared potential I’d discover that Dopesmoker was the top by default — a testomony to an aesthetic nobody was attempting to attain anymore. However Empty is from 2024, Dwell at Roadburn was launched in 2018, and Launched from Love / You, Whom I Have At all times Hated is from 2015.

To deal with the semi-finals, I listened to every album back-to-back with Dopesmoker, which made judging surprisingly simple. Amplifier Worship, Empty and Launched from Love have been knocked out nearly instantly.

This left me with Hell’s Dwell At Roadburn. It’s an odd alternative because it’s mainly a dwell model of Hell’s self-titled album, but it surely’s decidedly heavier, significantly the songs “Subodin” and “Machikitos.” That could be partly as a result of dwell songs work otherwise than studio variations — not least as a result of there’s a band as a substitute of Matthew S. Williams, who data as MSW, doing all of the components himself.

Dwell at Roadburn isn’t just heavier than Hell’s self-titled; it’s additionally heavier than Dopesmoker.

So, what renders Roadburn heavier? For starters, the guitars are actually tuned decrease — I believe to drop A flat slightly than drop C. And although the songs on Roadburn typically use repetition, there’s additionally variation on the tempo, which typically slows (“Helmzmen” type of grinds to a halt). There’s extra fuzzed-out suggestions.

However the deciding issue is the drums, that are a lot increased within the combine on Roadburn than on Dopesmoker, which suggests I can really feel the bass and tom. On “Machitikos” specifically, the pummeling drums underline and thicken a guitar solo.

For guitar purists, my verdict could also be suspect. In spite of everything, I’m taking into consideration drums in a riff-based medium. There are, nevertheless, solely so some ways to get heavy, which makes the drums the equal of the full-body swimsuits the Olympics banned for making swimmers too quick. Roadburn would in all probability nonetheless be heavier with the drums decrease within the combine — in all probability — however the drums make it decisive.

Hearken to each albums back-to-back on good audio system. (Headphones gained’t get the job accomplished right here.) As soon as you are feeling Roadburn in your sternum, I don’t assume there can be any room for argument. Spending two hours listening to music as an exercise — whereas doing nothing else — is one thing individuals ought to do extra typically. Music remains to be highly effective, when you’re prepared to concentrate.