The Sabians

Hailing from the San Francisco Bay area, The Sabians feature two former members of defunct doom metal legends Sleep, whose three seminal early 90's albums were among the most influential of the genre. After taking part in the sessions for Sleep's first album, 1991's Vol. 1, guitarist Justin Marler quit the band and enlisted with a Russian Orthodox monastery, where he spent the next seven years training to become a monk. Sleep carried on as a trio, obtaining virtually no mainstream recognition but securing a lasting reputation in underground circles thanks to their often brilliant, yet steadfastly inaccessible body of work before finally grinding to a halt amid legal controversy in the late 90's. Once he'd completed his studies, Marler reunited with Sleep drummer Matt Hakius (retired from music at the time and driving a big rig for a living) in 1999 to form The Sabians. With the help of fellow Sleep alum Matt Pike (by then fronting his own new project High on Fire), the duo secured a rehearsal space and began auditioning musicians. Lead guitarist Patrick Huerta soon came on board, but a small army of bassists slipped through their ranks before the arrival of Rachel Fischer in late 2001. This line-up performed on The Sabian's 2002 Music cartel debut Beauty for Ashes, as well as its 2003 follow-up Shiver.