Sleepbomb will release their upcoming LP, Songs in the Key of Conan!

San Francisco-based cinematic doom act Sleepbomb will release their upcoming LP, Songs in the Key of Conan, on 5 June 2026 on vinyl, CD, and digital formats via koolarrow records (run by Faith No More’s Billy Gould). The album reconceives John Milius’ 1983 classic Conan the Barbarian, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.  

Sleepbomb crafts full, original scores for genre films, settling on a drone influenced style of doom metal while incorporating other textures to suit each film’s distinct atmosphere. Their goal is to re-contextualize the experience of classic films through immersive, reinterpretative sound. Historically conceived as a live project, Sleepbomb has been performing their scores across the West Coast of the US since 2003.
 
Musically, the band ranges from heavy doom riffs to dreamy shoegaze, dark soundscapes punctuated with shimmering guitar and ethereal vocals. Originally stylistically close to a chaotic version of Throbbing Gristle vs Black Sabbath, Sleepbomb has been exploring experimental sounds and forms throughout their career, guided by the band’s love of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Coil, Neurosis, Sunn 0))), Ulver and Swans, among others.

Sleepbomb joined Bill Gould’s koolarrow records and Belgium’s Consouling Sounds in 2023 for the release of their score for the classic 1920 German Expressionist film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. They were overjoyed to repeat this collaboration for their 2025 release of The Sleeping Dead: excerpts from an alternate score for George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.
 
The forthcoming album, Songs in the Key of Conan, is the culmination of a complicated eleven-year journey for Sleepbomb, originally conceived as the next step in their evolution beyond improvised silent film scores, inspired by Conan the Barbarian, directed by John Milius.

Over the course of the first five years, Sleepbomb’s music for Conan developed from two hours of messy improvisation into a taut, fully written original score; full of driving percussion, soaring synths and dynamic guitars. Over the same period, Sleepbomb evolved from a loose ensemble playing beer gardens to a fixed lineup selling out Bay Area theaters, with Conan becoming their signature work.

Likely, without Covid, this record would have come out in 2021 and sounded very different given the pre-pandemic lineup of Sleepbomb. The album’s path was further delayed by licensing issues that halted live performances of the film and internal scheduling shifts. With the addition of Claire Hamard in 2022, Conan was finally recorded at Earhammer Studios in summer 2024 with producer Greg Wilkinson, alongside longtime live collaborators Matt Pankuch (horns) and K.R. Morrison (percussion). Tracking wrapped in about a week with minimal setbacks. Claire amicably departed the band in 2025, but her performances remain an integral part of the album. Mixing resumed in late 2025 and moved quickly, finally bringing Songs in the Key of Conan to its awaited completion.

Pre-Order Songs in the Key of Conan:
https://sleepbomb.bandcamp.com/album/songs-in-the-key-of-conan (vinyl, CD, merch, digital)

Album Credits:
All music written and performed by Sleepbomb.
Produced by Sleepbomb and Greg Wilkinson.
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios.

—Sleepbomb—
Charles Hernandez: guitars
Robert Johnson: drums, percussion
Tim Gotch: bass, synths

—Contributing Musicians—
Claire Hamard – vocals, clarinet, keyboards
Matt Pankuch – horns, percussion
K.R. Morrison – percussion

Sleepbomb:

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