‘Dopesmoker’: The song Stephen O’Malley calls “an evergreen masterpiece”
Throughout his career, Stephen O’Malley has worked with various people and contributed to the work of many different bands. Most notably, he is the founding member of Sunn O))), the famous American drone metal band. However, he also founded and contributed to the work of Thorr’s Hammer, Burning Witch, KTL and Khanate.
When he and Khanate resurfaced after a self-imposed 14-year hiatus, O’Malley put together a list of some of the tracks that have stayed with him over the years. “Here are the cream which came to mind,” he said, “The word ‘favourite’ is probably irrelevant, if I’m to be honest, but these [songs] have all nailed themselves to my neurons for various reasons.”
Plenty of tracks make the list as O’Malley pays homage to the likes of ‘Obscuritatem Advoco Amplectére Me’, ‘Vi Sonus Veris Nigrae Malitiaes’, and ‘Garten Der Unbewusstheit’. Still, the track he refers to as an “evergreen masterpiece” is none other than Sleep’s symphonic and operatic, ‘Dopesmoker’.
“In the first degree, a no-brainer. In the second degree, no brain. A third-degree, no knowing,” he said. “Driving through Georgia in a stinking minivan packed with Joe Preston, Khanate and Sigh (and Yosuke from Abigail), one of the oddest tours I’ve attended. Stoned and wading in simmering hostility, daydreaming of bombers over Dresden. Incredible how popular this album has become over the years and its legacy… evergreen masterpiece.”
This piece is as ambitious as it is complex, with a runtime of over an hour; it is something that fans everywhere have not only engaged with but completely lost themselves in. When a band releases a song like this, they do so at their own peril, as many people, especially today, might see the runtime and completely dismiss it. The fact that ‘Dopesmoker’ is considered such a classic by so many fans of Sleep shows just how good it is as a piece of work.
With its legacy in mind, it’s funny now to think that Sleep’s label, London Records, initially rejected it. Once the recording of the LP had been completed, London was so unhappy with what they heard that they completely abandoned the project. The only way that people could listen to it was through various unauthorised and poor-quality leaks online. It received praise from critics and fans in this sense and was eventually released in 1999.
It’s not a surprise that someone like Stephen O’Malley would connect well with an album of this calibre, given it has the sweeping droning sounds alive in his music but also comes equipped with shredding guitar solos and gritty lyrics. It is undoubtedly a masterpiece that elevated the stoner doom genre, taking what seemed like an established sound to new heights. Evergreen masterpiece is right; what the plant that keeps its colour is a different question.
