Sleep release Hempispheres with a rebuilt lineup
Al Cisneros has a new rhythm section and Matt Pike is apparently gone. One reviewer has already called it the weakest record any of them have made.
BY JOLT Staff · Oct 14 2026 · 1 min readHempispheres, the new Sleep album, is out now, listed for release on September 3 with the band's own store and streaming profiles carrying it. It is the band's first full-length since The Sciences, the surprise comeback that landed unannounced in 2018.
The lineup is not the one that made that record. Melvins drummer Dale Crover and Void guitarist Bubba Dupree are in, assembled by bassist and vocalist Al Cisneros. Jason Roeder was sacked from the drum stool in 2024. Matt Pike appears to be out as well, and the band has not said otherwise, per its own channels. Guitarist and singer 'Have Spacesuit Will Travel' was the first single from the new crew, released in June.
Response is not warm. In a review published the morning of October 13, Kez Whelan called Hempispheres each player's weakest recorded effort to date. What is announced is the record itself: no tour dates, and the album is the only new material the band has put out.
