Sleep share the new single The Morrisist and announce the album Hempispheres

Sleep has announced a new metal album, Hempispheres, due digitally September 3 and physically October 30 via Third Man Records, and shared a second single from it, "The Morrisist," following June's "Have Spacesuit Will Travel," now tracked in the release calendar.

Hempispheres is Sleep's first album since 2018's The Sciences, and the first to feature the band's new lineup: Void guitarist Bubba Dupree and Melvins drummer Dale Crover, joining longtime singer-bassist Al Cisneros, following the departure of founding guitarist Matt Pike. Dupree said he had no interest in mimicking Pike, calling him "an icon" whose imitation "would be hollow," and instead focused on bringing his own voice while making sure "Sleep's soul is still totally intact." Cisneros called Crover's drumming "otherworldly" and "life changing."

The album was recorded with longtime Melvins engineer Toshi Kasai at the band's studio, growing out of demos Cisneros had been developing over several writing sessions. Cisneros said he wanted a guitarist who understood Sleep's legacy but had also completed his own "Iommic Studies," describing Dupree's approach as evoking "blue sunglasses era Iommi." Dupree, for his part, said he fell under the spell of Sleep's Holy Mountain in the mid-1990s before forging his own path in the hardcore band Void.

Crover's arrival puts him in two active Sleep-adjacent projects at once: the drummer also plays in Gatta Morta, a new supergroup pairing Melvins and Butthole Surfers players, a reminder of how tightly connected the Melvins' orbit remains to Sleep's current lineup.

Cisneros is also expanding Sleep's mythology with a companion comic book published by Third Man Books, following the band's "Marijuanaut" character through "Planet Iommia." A limited-edition bundle includes a flexi-disc of "Have Spacesuit Will Travel," a signed bookplate, a poster and custom rolling papers.

Sleep begins a North American headlining tour September 8 in San Diego, including a headlining slot at Austin's Levitation festival and multi-night stands in Seattle and San Francisco, running into mid-November with additional Midwest and East Coast dates.