So today ("today" being a month or so before you all see this post) I was casually browsing through The Graveyard (what I call iTunes on my PC since Spotify came along) and I stumbled across this forgotten relic; it had completely slipped my mind that Sleep had done a $neaky little EP for Adult Swim, and top it off, I find out this shit came out in 2014! 2014!!?? Holy fuck...
Anyways, on with the review! At first The Clarity strikes me as a bit of a self-parody with lyrics like "the dealer is my refuge" and "back patch / Iommic life complete", and that doesn't do much to add the reek of cashing in that this one-track EP gives off (go peep the price of the vinyl for this shit, and also the prices for those ridiculous Sleep action figures and pillows. What is this, fucking Kiss or something? I'm just surprised it wasn't released on green wax and limited to 420 copies).
That being said however, Sleep are rather well known for spacey riffs and silly lyrics about smoking weed, so really, I shouldn't complain. Musically, this release treads the middle ground, and somehow ends up sounding like an inoffensive mashup between Om and High On Fire, rather than like a genuine Sleep song. That might sound rediculous, but have a genuine think about that statement for a second.
It just seems to me that everybody involved with Sleep is now so far removed from it musically, that revisiting it with the hope of reviving it for future releases seems like a bad idea. It is incredibly sad that Sleep's legacy only truly began posthumously, but with Om and High On Fire being fantastic bands in their own right, I can't help but think that Sleep should be left where it belongs: sleeping.
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