I changed my mind about The Sciences.

This is the first time I’ve had to do this since starting this blog, and it’s a real pain in the ass too because I already wrote about this and because Tumblr somehow couldn’t post it and lost it, I have to completely rewrite it. But I feel like it is necessary for two main reasons: doing the album honest justice, and reevaluating my process. So I wrote about the new Sleep album, The Sciences, a few weeks ago and it was one of the more challenging write-ups I’ve done lately. I listened to it numerous times but still had a really hard time connecting with the album and understanding the appeal, if any, outside stoner culture (which I mentioned I don’t really have any part in).

A few days ago, I decided to play it again, through speakers this time instead of my headphones, and it clicked. And as happy as I was to finally feel a connection and enjoyment for this album I’d put so much time into, I felt like such an idiot afterward. Perhaps it was the time I had to subconsciously digest the album without hearing it for a few weeks, or maybe it was once I had spent 420 minutes of my life listening to it that I could understand it (sorry for the bad weed number reference), but I definitely noticed the difference when listening to it through speakers compared to on headphones. Like why didn’t I try that sooner?

The thickness of the instrumentation on the album was much more noticeable through speakers, forming a dense, hazy fog much like the smoke sesh the album is meant to soundtrack. And the nuances of much of the instrumentation popped out a lot better and more vividly than through the headphones. The riff on the closing track sounded absolutely godly when cranked up on the stereo, and the rumbly bass riff on “Sonic Titan” came through the speakers much more vibrantly and more crushing when allowed to fill my entire room.

I had speculated that this album was possibly only enjoyable from within stoner culture or while blazed, but after being long battered by the album’s loud, intense wall of sound in its best setting, I was able to find enjoyment in it, and come to the new conclusion that it’s a great album and transcends the shitty grainy production and unoriginal Black Sabbath worship that seems to overpopulate the stoner doom genre.

This isn’t the first time I’ve ever changed my mind on an album, even since starting this blog. I continuously listen to and meditate on albums long after I write about them, and I sometimes do feel slightly differently about them a good ways down the road after writing about them. But for the most part, every time I write about an album, I’m well acquainted with it, if not intimate with it after numerous listens. There have been exceptions for albums that I just couldn’t get through more than once or twice, either because they were just unbearably grating to sit through and/or took an entire 8th of a 24 hour day to listen to (*cough* Therion). Still, I’m not just winging or bullshitting these write-ups. I’m doing each one with confidence. Nevertheless this album has shown me something about my process that I think I need to address. While I often get irritated with and internally judge critics who put out quick, clearly lazy reviews for the sake of being among the first voices to be heard about an album, I do feel a similar pressure from myself to do these write-ups efficiently and in a timely fashion, which has been manageable since I only stick to metal on here, but something like this new Sleep album clearly shows that I can do better. And I feel silly because as a huge Meshuggah fan, I know how long it can take to fully appreciate all an album’s nooks and crannies, and I’d rather not let an album like this, that I end up really liking, fall through the cracks. And I want to give every album the same chance and time to grow I know I would give a new Meshuggah album.

So pretty much, I like the new Sleep album a lot now, and I’m probably going to be just a little slower with new album discussions in the future. I thought this would be shorter, writing it a second time, but damn, I just cannot keep anything short on here.