"Jerusalem" was committed to in limbo for more than a year while Sleep's record company tried to figure out what to do with the band. The group was then dropped by its label, broke up and all the while, bootleg copies of "Jerusalem" found its way to the loyal following the group had established.
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What "Jerusalem" has to offer is nothing worthwhile to the uninitiated, but an essetial fix fo the converted. This is vintage Sleep. Black Sabbath-style sludgy riffs abound and are played at an amplifier's volume limit in long elaborate jams.
The single song release that is "Jerusalem" is a musical journey that takes its time to get to its upbeat segments and stretches itself out during the slower portions. And boy does it take its time to get where it wants to go!
The grand scope and ambition of the record, however, is respectable. The vision to release one long song (52 minutes) as an album shows that this is a group that wished to hold tight to its sense of integrity and was not afraid of depriving the radio and its record label of a single.
But the group's style of Black Sabbath-like riffage and the slow momentum of this song makes the listening experience of "Jerusalem" a slow and boring process that should really be left to the group's loyal fans.
01-12-99
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