Holy Mountain
2005
Om
Variations On A Theme
About This Album
Seven years after Sleep's demise, Al Cisneros and Chris Hakius return in a pared-down bass-drums-vocals configuration. Although jettisoning guitars might be deemed sacrilegious by metal purists, Om doesn't sacrifice any of Sleep's lumbering, Sabbath-weight riffage as Cisneros's distorted, fuzzed-out bass does the job admirably. The name Om corresponds perfectly with the pair's mantric, minimalist style. Sleep buried listeners under tons of sonic magma, the ideal soundtrack to stoned, navel-gazing stupor; by contrast, Om's hypnotic groove aspires to a higher state, suggesting a heavy yet ascetic regime of meditation. Variations on a Theme's transcendental design manifests itself in the sonic architecture. The song remains the same across these three crawling numbers (essentially movements in one gargantuan, ritualistic piece), throughout which the duo builds repetitive, mesmeric patterns: Cisneros grinds out meandering, python-thick basslines while Hakius pounds an earthmoving beat punctuated with precise, ringing, cymbal-strikes like the tolling of some primal ceremonial bell. Cisneros's unique sung-chanted vocals are another key element of this ritual as he intones quasi-mystical fragments in a clipped, affectless manner.
Track List (try track 2)

1.
2.
3.