Every time we write a story about Sleep Token, we get comments and messages saying the same thing: “This band aren’t metal.” And on the one hand… sure. This faceless Eyes Wide Shut sex cult have never once sought to be out-and-out extreme, having from day one mixed the genre’s bare-knuckle riffs with swooning pop sections and pensive post-rock.
But, our counter-argument has always been: have you heard some of this lot’s songs?! To diminish Sleep Token’s metal credentials because of frontman Vessel’s Bon Iver vocals or the odd sensual funk segue is to be wilfully ignorant. Their back-catalogue is stuffed with neck-crushing breakdowns, guitars as heavy as Meshuggah on Jupiter, and even the occasional, anguished growl.
To prove our point (and to maybe, maybe get the detractors off our backs), we’ve compiled the essential playlist of Sleep Token’s most metal moments.
Thread The Needle (One, 2016)
The opening track of debut EP One was a powerful introduction to Sleep Token’s extremes. Sure, it may kick off with some vulnerable, high-pitch crooning from Vessel, but that sensitivity gets interrupted by blasts of ferocious metal not once, but twice. And those strikes hit harder each time.
Midway through, Thread… descends into the kind of dense noise usually reserved for Vildhjarta, the pummelling rhythm guitars made even uglier by a grinding, atonal lead line. Then it circles back to dish out a battering that’s harder and slower. From day one, Sleep Token clearly knew how to maximise metal’s impact.
Jaws (2018)
This standalone single saw Sleep Token expand beyond their ‘guitar-pop-with-metal-breakdowns’ formula, which they mastered on 2017 EP Two, and deliver an all-bets-are-off odyssey. The first verse and chorus are pure, ambient beauty, but the following instrumental break introduces a dark synth melody and a scurrying drum pattern.
Then there’s a barrage of cathartic djent, underscored by the same synth line, and the process repeats again, although it crescendos with a new, equally-intense riff. By the time the frantic percussion returns during the outro, Sleep Token have built a twisted ride full of tension and release.
The Offering (Sundowning, 2019)
Before 2019, Sleep Token had always treated riffs as something to build up to. So you can imagine acolytes’ shock when The Offering was released as Sundowning’s second single and, within 30 seconds, they were bombarded with rumbling rhythm guitars and hell-for-leather drum hits.
The heavy counterpoint to lush album opener The Night Does Not Belong To God, this track remains one of the band’s most full-blooded, all-caps METAL efforts. It has its moments of serenity, as does almost everything else they’ve done – however, the gaps between the intensity still haven’t ever been as small as they are here.
Hypnosis (This Place Will Become Your Tomb, 2021)
If Sleep Token’s nameless drummer were to have a ‘magnum opus’, Hypnosis would most certainly be in contention. Without him, the second track on 2021’s This Place Will Become Your Tomb would be just another of the band’s songs, juddering between bold metal and more introverted interludes.
However, the man know only as ‘II’ smashes his kit hard throughout these five-and-a-half minutes, regardless of what Vessel and everyone else are doing. His constant drive gives energy to both the distorted freakouts and meandering passages, making it worthy of this list even before the deep-throated death growls kick in at the end.
Vore (Take Me Back To Eden, 2023)
And so we end with the most defiant statement against the people that question Sleep Token’s metal-ness. Vore – despite all pre-established rules about this band’s eclecticism, structures and song lengths – is an immediate, violent metalcore rampage. A bouldering riff immediately lands, quickly followed by shrill screams from Vessel and a passage of crushing groove juxtaposed against melodic keyboards.
Admittedly, the second half of this Take Me Back To Eden standout isn’t as ferocious as its first, but the fact remains: this was an out-of-nowhere attack that bowled everyone over, amplifying Sleep Token’s aggression to hitherto unrivalled levels. Brilliantly horrible stuff.
Sleep Token are the cover stars on the new issue of Metal Hammer. Get a copy delivered to your doorstep and read all about the band’s momentous rise, as told by the people who were there.
