Arik Roper's doom rock album art

I previously raved about artist Arik Roper's monograph "Mushroom Magick," a book of paintings depicting various species of hallucinogenic shrooms. At the time, I somehow missed Roper's utterly fantastic watercolors for doom/stoner rock albums! At top is the cover of Sleep's "Dopesmoker" (2012 reissue), a somewhat mythic album my pal Patrick Kelly describes as "just one song, about 60 minutes long that details the journeys of the Weedian people (I suppose that's them on the cover) to the land of the perfect riff." And above is the cover art for the band High On Fire's "Blessed Black Wings." That imagery is also available on a handsome black t-shirt with the following emblazoned on the back: "The blood I bleed is black indeed." Arik Roper

• [David Gill]

  Fuck, that is awesome! 

  • [David Pescovitz]

    The mystical glow is pretty fantastic. Rob pointed out that it has a bit of that Dune 1970s paperback cover vibe to it.

    • [tristan eldritch]

      Yeah, was just about to mention the Dune cover.

      • [Trond Sebastian Rusten]

        http://arikroper.com/art/illustration/ look at the two illustrations next to the sleep cover!! DUNE!

• [StAlfongzo]

  Freaking sweet! I’m seeing SLEEP tonight at the Fox Theater I can’t wait!

• [Ambiguity]

  He was interviewed on BB friend Erik Davis’ Expanding Mind podcast not too long ago. Check it out if you like his artwork

• [stegodon]

  i think matt pike must be a fan. sleep and high on fire are both pike projects. 

• [toblerpwn]

  also seeing Sleep tonight at the Fox.

  last time I saw them (in Portland, OR about 3-4 years ago) it was so good i literally had a fever dream/vision of a hazy sky, a dragon, a wizard, and – of course – the Holy Mountain.

  and i was stone sober.

• [toblerpwn]

  (also, if you’re a Sleep fan, check out YOB – from my hometown in Eugene, OR – especially their album The Great Cessation)

  /shameless shoutout for hometown heroes

  • [bobkat]

    YES!  Yob is incredible, and their music is transcendent both literally (heavily spiritual) and figuratively (it’s so good that non-metal-heads love it).  The NYT famously proclaimed them one of the best bands in America (the world?) a couple of years ago, and its twice as true now.  All three dudes are also warm, kind, and down-to-earth.  IMHO, they’ve taken doom beyond Sabbath-worship into a whole new space that is really exciting for fans of heavy music.  Not that there’s anything wrong with Sabbath-worship!

    Related: if y’all don’t already know, everyone should also check out Om, another great band featuring Al Cisneros from Sleep, and the artwork of David D’Andrea, who has done some great shirts and posters for Sleep, Om, and Yob as well, I think.

    Also, can I just say how stoked I am to see doom discussed enthusiastically on BB?  DOOM!!!  I sure wish Sleep were playing in Portland this time around so I could see them again…

    • [stegodon]

      never underestimate the radness of the boingboing community. 

• [C B]

  Listened to Dopesmoker in the van while on the road in ’07 with a heavy Brooklyn Doom band. I feel old. “Back in my day everyone played their guitars tuned down a step, drop C!” Proceed the Weedian, Nazareth.

  • [bobkat]

    ‘o7?!  Dopesmoker was originally issued as Jerusalem in 1999!  Imagine how old I feel…

• [seanmchugh]

  edit: sorry. this was meant to be a reply to toblerpwn.
  i just fucking love yob.  i’ve saw them live recently at the scion metal thing in pamona, ca and they were mesmerizing.  i love them so much that it depresses me; i wish there were more bands like them.  but there can be only one, apparently.

  • [bobkat]

    All too true, sadly enough.  Treasure and support Yob – they really deserve it.

• [fredh]

  And anything Scott “Wino” Weinrich does, but am I preaching to the converted here?