Magazine Interviews/Articles
Below are scans and transcripts of all articles and interviews about Sleep Token in chronological order. Sourced from Tumblr, Youtube, and from this Google document.
Who and what the hell are Sleep Token?
Who are the mysterious figures known only as Sleep Token? We try to find out.
Source | May 19 2017
The anonymous collective known as Sleep Token are premiering their new video for Calcutta exclusively with Metal Hammer. Taken from their upcoming EP Two, it’s an odd and unique mix of technical metal and expansive indie soundscapes. But that’s not the only bizarre thing going on…
Fronted by the masked, secretive figure known as Vessel, Sleep Token worship and commit themselves to the ancient deity known as Sleep (although we have been told “no proper translation can cover it”).
To try and gain some kind of grasp on what Sleep Token are and who is behind the mask, we had a quick chat with the person known as Vessel to try and find out…
What is the story behind Sleep Token?
“How we got here is as irrelevant as who we are – what matters is the music and the message. We are here to serve Sleep and project His message.”
Who is Sleep? How did an ancient deity find himself in the UK music scene?
“He is everywhere, at all times. Vessel encountered Sleep in a dream, with promise of glory and magnificence if Vessel followed Him. The UK is old, centuries of lore lay buried here. This land has power, if only you knew how to use it.”
What is the meaning behind the markings on your mask?
“It is an acronym of Sleep Token and reads as ST in ancient runes.”
Why do you all wish to remain anonymous?
“Our identities are unimportant. Music is marketed on who is or isn’t in a band; it’s pushed. prodded and moulded into something it isn’t. Vessel endeavours to keep the focus on His offerings.”
Do you worry people will liken you to bands like Ghost?
“No. The only comparison that can be drawn with Ghost is our anonymity. Our verses are a token, crafted to magnify and embody the multitude of emotion that writhes in our subconscious. Sonically our voice is rooted in the resonation between the notes and your emotion. Take our hand.”
Your Facebook page proudly states ‘Nothing lasts forever’. Is Sleep Token a temporary vehicle for the persona known as Sleep?
“Life is fleeting and this too shall pass. But for now, we praise Him.”
What are your influences musically?
“As musicians we are inspired by the human condition and a plethora of artists, but we are deeply moved by His words and continue to do our utmost to bring them to life. As followers we are bound by a duty to combine our crafts to create music that conveys some of our most primal, and powerful emotions.”
The song Calcutta is a bizarre mix of mainstream anthemic indie and tech-metal. What on earth is going on there?
“Life is dark. Life is bright. Life is ugly. Life is beautiful. Don’t get lost in genres, they’ll only disorientate you. Music is for everyone.”
Do you think people will see Sleep Token as a gimmick and not pay attention to the music?
“The standard concept of gimmickry is none of our concern. We are here to deliver a message; touch people in their hearts and subconscious minds. Soon, regardless of cynicism, you will all be followers. “
You’re making your live debut next month. What can we expect from Sleep Token in the live environment?
“Worship.”
What lies in the future for Sleep Token?
“Nothing. Lasts. Forever.”
Sleep Token’s upcoming EP Two will be released on July 21, via Basick Records. They make their live debut at the Black Heart in London on June 17.
Metal Hammer
July 25 2017
Stay Toke
The gimmick may be goofy, but Sleep Token's music is no laughing matter
"My favourite 90s album is Fantastic Planet by Failure. It's devastatingly bleak in a way that resonates into our deepest self." VESSEL (VOCALS)
Over the years Metal Hammer has heard all manner of bizarre sonic coalitions and watched bands emerge from the deepest, weirdest corners of our scene, yet mysterious collective Sleep Token are up there among the most unique and 'WTF?' propositions so far. Not only is their music a fairly unclassifiable fusion of brutal tech-metal and atmospheric post-rock, but the band, driven by masked and cloaked frontman Vessel, claim to live in thrall to an ancient deity called Sleep. OK...
Much like Ghost's Nameless Ghouls, the remaining members of Sleep Token have chosen to remain anonymous in order to retain their shadowy presence – only agreeing to answer our questions via email.
SOUNDS LIKE: An intriguing and shadowy blend of atmospheric post-rock and tech
FOR FANS OF: Meshuggah, Bon Iver, Explosions In The Sky
LISTEN TO: Calcutta
"They go hand in hand," explains Vessel when we ask if the band's sound and image are simply an exercise in gimmickry. "Sleep Token serves to add a visual dimension to our journey. A world without texture isn't a world at all." The story goes that Vessel first encountered Sleep in a dream where he was promised glory and magnificence in return for his worship. "He is the oldest God, a primal majesty that has endured the ages unperturbed by the mortality of a flawed and chaotic human race," says the frontman helpfully. "He is everyone. He is you. There's a power in music that binds us all, every note relates to another. He showed me a vision of a world filled with depth and texture."
Ok, so their 'backstory' is silly. But as far as the music's concerned, Sleep Token are an undeniably intriguing prospect, inhibiting a sparse world of heart-breaking beauty and intense heaviness where stark, and sometimes sinister, skeletal soundscapes build to throbbing climaxes with mesmerising effect. Recent single Calcutta, which premiered on Hammer's website, builds like a storm: violent, djent-tinged destruction erupting amid Vessel's ethereal and vulnerable Bon Iver-esque vocals.
"We sculpt, build and craft these sounds with an aim to deliver the emotional magnitude of His words," says Vessel. "Destroy and rebuild over and over until what is left is what His followers shall hear. The influences come from the physical and emotionally charged world at large. Dreams are textural, so is music and much like life; they bring both darkness and life. beauty and ugliness — it's our job to translate and convey those complexities as best we can. Each of these songs is an experience, but to find the real details you'll have to explore them yourself. The music will ring out and people will continue to follow, for that's what people do best. Follow. Stay with us and we'll show you the whole world through his eyes. What a magnificent sight that is."
SLEEP TOKEN'S NEW EP, TWO, IS OUT NOW VIA BASICK
Sleep Token release creepy new video for Jaws
Source | June 08 2018
Secretive collective Sleep Token have released a video for brand new track Jaws, the first new music from the band following last year's EP Two.
Speaking to Hammer about Jaws, the anonymous leader known as Him said: ‘"Jaws are the tools we have to rend apart. To show our concealed aggression. To take something once hidden and protected, and burst it apart. You know no one until you have seen them destroy something.”
Sleep Token have been nominated for Best New Band at this year's Golden Gods, and have three festival shows lined up this summer – Download, Reading and Leeds.
Jaws is available to purchase now.
Kerrang!
August 01 2018
SLEEP TOKEN
Anonymous Brit metal cult big on peering down the rabbit hole...
Sleep Token are a band shrouded in mystery. The London metallers' mix of high-tech riffs and dreamy soundscapes have earned them a good name for themselves since forming last year, but if you want to give them credit for it, you must do so to the masked, anonymous face of their enigmatic frontman, known only as Him.
Him declines to reveal specifics about the ancient deity the band worship, Sleep, but he's more forthcoming about his own artistic motivation.
"There exists a considerable body of art that explores the deeper recesses of the human mind," he explains. "Sleep Token serve as a means to explore this on an individual basis. The music is a representation of one individual's deepest and most fundamental emotions and desires. This is what people connect to. They see themselves in this individual, and the music becomes about them.
Easy-going fare this isn't, but there's no denying it's pretty captivating. Sleep Token have played fewer than 10 tunes (they refer to their gigs as "rituals"), but they're already Download alumni. The industrial-ish thrust of new single Jaws, meanwhile, continues their philosophical, lyrical path.
"Our jaws are the tools we have to rend apart," Him explains. "They show our concealed aggression, and take something once hidden and burst it apart. You don't know someone until you have seen them destroy something. Jaws is an exploration of the frustration which accompanies the sense that someone close to you is hiding their true self.”
GET TO KNOW
Your quick guide to SLEEP TOKEN...
THEY ARE: Anonymous, philosophical ambient metallers.
HEAR: The alluring power of brand-new single Jaws.
SEE: The ismple darkness of the haunting clip for Thread the Needle.
MORE INFO: Facebook.com/sleeptoken
But while Jaws looks to expose the darkness that lies inside us, when it comes to the band’s own identities Sleep Token are steadfast in their belief that art comes before aesthetic.
"Art has become entangled with identity," Him says of the band's anonymity. "The aim is to provide something people can engage with without being obstructed by the identity of its creator. The true identities behind Sleep Token are irrelevant. Our identity is represented through the art and music itself.
SLEEP TOKEN'S JAWS IS OUT NOW. THE BAND PLAY READING & LEEDS FESTIVALS - SEE THE GUIDE FOR INFO
Rock Sound
September 2018
SLEEP TOKEN
MYSTERIOUS YET BEAUTIFULLY BALANCED SOUNDSCAPES WITH A VERY HUMAN GOAL
FROM: N/A
RELEASE: 'Jaws' (Single, Basick. Out now)
SOUNDS LIKE: LOATHE + SIGUR RÓS + THE CONTORTIONIST
INTENSE, PENETRATING AND intoxicating, the most haunting music is sometimes the most beautiful. That's where Sleep Token come in. Anonymous and shrouded in mystery (though we can assume they're from the UK, at least), the collective exist for one definitive reason.
"The ultimate goal is to engender a constructive emotional process within as many people as possible," leader "Vessel" explains. "Simply the basic conept of understanding onself better, understanding others better as a result." Through the act or "worship" (playing live) and conducting of "rituals" (shows, to you and us), the project has gained passionate followers with an intense and different vibe. Intimate, gripping and punishing both lyrically and musically, it's a powerful soundtrack that eschews genre.
"Sleep Token draws from the most profound experiences we have in life and, most crucially, where they intersect," says Vessel. "We're all driven towards intimacy, away from death. We're all scared. We're all in love. To see this within yourself, and then to see it reflected in others - this is the essense of worship."
Though music is their primary tool, it seems that Sleep Token's main ambition is something much more human.
"We all desire to see the darkest, most profound aspects of ourselves reflected in the expression of others," Vessel adds.
"That's what tells us our existence is anything more than a meaningless sequence in an endless tangle of physical and chemical interactions. We're here to provide this expression, so it may serve as a device with which people might understand themselves better."
WORDS: Jack Rogers
Kerrang!
November 23 2019
ALL GOOD IN THE HOOD...
Mysterious masked entity SLEEP TOKEN allow a peek into their dark world on debut album…
With the hidden identities behind bands like Poland's Slavonic-speaking black metallers Batushka and Sweden's Ghost being unveiled to a curious public in recent times, it means that the similarly secretive Sleep Token might just be the most compelling group with their masks still in place. And, as they've already proven, the band are more than capable of playing up to this role of intrigue. When the anonymous collective emerged just over two years ago, dressed in Death Eater-style robes and looking ready to sacrifice your pet goat, their leader, known only as Vessel, told of an age-old deity called 'Sleep' — a name chosen as no proper translation exists in any modern tongue. They also came bearing allusions to ancient civilisations, with early songs named Calcutta, Nazareth and Jericho.
This weaving of the occult into the band's tapestry has grown smarter as they've journeyed towards this, their debut full-length. With the album named after the syndrome associated with dementia, where patients can become further confused and agitated as dusk settles in, its first single The Night Does Not Belong To God was unveiled upon the summer solstice in June. Subsequent tracks have been ritualistically released every two weeks since, always at the time of sundown in accordance qith Greenwich Mean Time (perhaps a clue towards the group's Earthly origins).
And yet for all this dark mystery and carefully constructed enigma, perhaps what surprises most about Sleep Token is the way they sound. Despite a supremely witchy aesthetic that hints at the gloomiest doom unearthed from some rotting catacomb, the main fabric of their debut is a mix of chilling electronics and otherworldly pop, with a sinister heaviness only intruding on the fringes. These are songs that share less with the metal of the similarly-robed Sunn 0))), and more with, say, Deaf Havana's slower, more pensive and thoughtful moments.
It begins with the aforementioned The Night Does Not Belong To God, a song that's as strange and sparse as it is spellbinding. With little more than a ringing digital tone and a muscular, crooning voice, the band conjure a dense mood that hangs heavy with longing, before bantamweight drumming and Deftones-like guitars inject a jolt of power. The song's lasting impression is one of immense feeling, and it's this rich atmosphere that cloaks almost the entirety of Sundowning.
At times, it's captivating. The Offering provides gasping melodrama, while Dark Signs projects EDM lightness onto evil chugs. The extremely minimal Drag Me Under, meanwhile, doesn't even sound human. The band's lyrics also go a long way in helping to construct this ethereal world, as they collide images of divinity with flashes Of what seems to be their own lives. And while convention may have taught us that emotions mean more when pinned to a personality or some real-life flesh, the facelessness of these private sermons can make them feel shared and empathetic, or perhaps like being inside a confession booth.
Admittedly, save for Gods — the record's only true out-and-out metalcore song — the continuous nature of this dark mood entwined with the group's slow-burning, listless pace does begin to drag across Sundowner's 50-minute runtime. But there are moments here to truly savour, and ideas and experiences that feel unique. The band have shown they can create vast episodes that exist primarily within their ancient universe, while also feeling very vulnerable and human at their core. That alone should be reason enough to hope that Sleep Token's secretive allure stays intact for a long time to come. TOM SHEPHERD
Q&A - A SERVANT (MOUTHPIECE FOR THE VESSEL)
Sleep Token have become pretty big already, without any details of the members' identities coming out. Why is there so much secrecy around the musicians in the band?
"It matters not who they are. It matters not what they say."
Where did the name Vessel for your singer come from?
"'Vessel' is no name. It is merely a descriptive term, one that may indeed be applied to us all. He is no different, in this regard."
The album is very eclectic, drawing upon various different styles that are often not found in rock. Where do these influences come from?
"Death. Power. Desire. Anguish."
"OUR IDENTITY MATTERS NOT TO BELIEVERS..." A SERVANT
Are you pleased that nobody has figured out the identities of the people behind the music yet?
"The entity is the music. There is nothing further to discover."
Would you say that there's an element of actual, occult magic to Sleep Token? ls that part of the reason why you're so secretive, like Jimmy Page in the '70s?
"Such boasts are not his to make. Should a wild animal be considered 'secretive' if it does not tell us its name?"
You've supported BABYMETAL at big shows, as well as your own headlining gigs, which have sold out almost immediately. Does appearing live in front of people make it harder to stay anonymous? Or does it simply prove the strength of what you're doing, in that the anonymity stands up to such things?
"The gathering of Followers only further exemplifies the truth, that the identity of the creators matters not to those who believe."
Is Sleep Token a band, or a larger entity, with no beginning or end?
"Nothing lasts forever."
Any final thoughts?
"Worship."
Revolver Magazine
Source | September 2023
Although I am devoted in worship, my physical body has limits. Transcribing an entire magazine worth of text is beyond them. Please refer to the link above.
Metal Hammer
First three pages transcribed by The Forbidden Eden | December 2023
"IF I DON'T FEEL ANYTHING THEN WHY WOULD I EVEN DO THIS?"
A hit album, viral videos, secret listening sessions, an upcoming arena show — 2023 has been the year of Sleep Token. Hammer joins them in Los Angeles to hear Vessel finally speak
WORDS: RICH HOBSON • PICTURES: ANDY FORD
A deep, distorted voice is coming through the PA of Los Angeles’ El Rey Theatre.
“Do you think they want you to cry?” it’s saying. "Do you think they like it?”
A second voice, lighter in tone but still distorted and oddly inhuman, replies.
"Not as such,” this one says. “I think they just want to know that I am feeling something, feeling what they are feeling, perhaps.”
The audience in this ornate, 800-capacity venue stands silent, entranced by the voices. The band onstage are masked metal sensations Sleep Token, tonight playing their first headlining show in the City of Angels as part of their month-long North American Rituals tour.
The dialogue that is playing out around us is hugely significant to everyone in this sold-out crowd. It marks the first time crowned frontman Vessel – the lighter voice – has broken his silence in public. The deeper voice he’s communing with belongs to Sleep, the god-like entity at the heart of the band’s lore. As the conversation continues, you could hear a pin drop.
“Do you think that this amount of crying is healthy for you?” Sleep asks.
“I don’t know,” comes Vessel’s response. “But at least I feel something. If I don’t feel anything then why would I even do this?”
At this, the crowd lose their minds and a wave of mania ripples across the floor. That the voices are pre-recorded doesn’t matter. Nor does the fact that this isn’t, strictly, the first time it’s happened – Sleep Token have been doing throughout this tour. But modern metal’s most enigmatic band have done something they’ve never done before: they’ve cracked open the door and given us a tantalising glimpse into their inner world.
This show isn’t the biggest Sleep Token will play this year. In December, they will headline London’s Wembley Arena. But Los Angeles, together with New York, is one of the epicentres of the US music business, and the buzz that’s surrounding the anonymous band suggests that America is paying attention to them.
More than that, La La Land has always had a thing for cults, from the Manson Family to Scientology, as well as the countless smaller ‘spiritualist’ groups that operate in the city today. An anonymous, masked British band with their own mysterious, quasi-religious mythology? LA never stood a chance.
“There is a new atmosphere at these live shows, an electricity,” says Benji Purdy, an American fan who also acts as moderator on the band’s official Discord server. He first saw Sleep Token when they supported metalcore act Issues on a 2019 US tour. After witnessing their headlined show in Portland, Oregon a few days ago, he says they’re an entirely different beast this time around.
“We’ll never see this band at this level ever again,” says Benji. “They are catapulting themselves.”
2023 has been the year Sleep Token’s cult success went fully overground. On January 5, the band released Chokehold, the first single from then-upcoming third album Take Me Back To Eden. Twenty-four hours later, they chucked in another new song, The Summoning. By the time the track hit TikTok, videos of listeners reacting to the genre-defying sound were reaching users around the world, with some even hitting a million-plus views.
Their social media profile was helped by celebrity boosts from Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor, Architects singer Sam Carter and Lorna Shore’s Will Ramos. And in May, they announced that Wembley date. All 12,500 tickets sold out in just 10 minutes. Sleep Token had officially become a arena band.
Chris Lody, a Sleep Token fan based in Coventry, set up a subreddit for the band back in 2018 after discovering they won their nomination for Best New Band at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods. The same year, he saw their first headline performance at St Pancras Old Church in front of 150 people. He’s had a front row seat to their dizzying rise.
“To go from that to Wembley in December, it’s incredible,” says Chris. “Creating the subreddit was a bit opportunistic really. Nothing like it really existed and I wanted to see what other people were saying about the band.”
It took a while, but fans eventually began to head to Chris’s Reddit page to share their own interpretations of Sleep Token’s music, art and lore. After the release of Chokehold and The Summoning, the page exploded with new users.
“The volume of people posting day-to-day is massive now,” says Chris, adding that it has grown from around 6,000 users to 34,500 at the time of writing. “We’ve had to take on more moderators just to maintain a bit of order.”
Much as the fandom has expanded, so too have the opportunities afforded Sleep Token. This summer, they stepped up to festival headliner status in the UK, with appearances at Portsmouth’s Takedown in April and Manchester’s Radar in July. Radar organiser Joe James admits they lucked out with the timing of the band’s booking.
“We got them at that sweet spot that every promoter dreams of,” he tells Hammer. “We’re a festival that wants to book progressive, contemporary music. Sleep Token tick all those boxes: they’re doing something fresh and are at the top of their game at the moment.”
Headlining the first day of the festival gave the band a full “limitless” rehearsal time, which in turn resulted in a truly headline-worthy performance.
“It looked and sounded amazing,” Joe enthuses. “They are so massive now, but they don’t behave like they’re blowing up just yet. I truly think they’re the next Download headliners of the new breed.”
It’s 4pm in Los Angeles when Hammer arrives at the El Rey Theatre, and queues are already stretching around the block in both directions. Some fans have brought chairs and blankets to sit on, while others are propping themselves up against the walls of the venue, clinging to the scant shade to avoid the glare of the Californian sun.
Amy McLaurin and her friend Sarah Hibbert are standing at the venue barrier. They’re from Virginia, and arrived at the El Rey at 9am, despite having fast-track passes that guarantee them priority entry.
“I found them on TikTok,” she says of how she discovered Sleep Token, with a nervous smile that suggests she’s worried any gatekeepers will leap out and chase her away at any second.
The pair saw Sleep Token for the first time a couple of weeks earlier in Baltimore, but couldn’t risk booking flights to come more than 2,000 miles to repeat the experience. It’s doubly impressive because Baltimore was Amy’s first ever gig, full-stop.
“I’d never really found an artist I loved enough,” she says. “Right now they’re everything I want in music. I listened to rock before Sleep Token, but not much metal – I’ve actually discovered more metal through them. I also met Sarah at the Baltimore show and we both decided to fly here.”
“They make you think about things you otherwise wouldn’t want to talk or be open about,” adds Sarah. “These songs can mean something different to everyone, a universal pain we all feel but some might be less able to express that.”
Vessel famously doesn’t do interviews – the only one he has given was to Hammer in the band’s early days – but their fans have been more than happy to pick up the slack. Sleep Token’s official and unofficial social media channels are full of running narratives, memes and jokes.
It hasn’t all been deadly serious, either. In April, a fan-filmed clip of an audience member at a gig in Sydney letting loose a “sinister” fart during the quiet part of the song Atlantic went viral. Similarly, after the release of The Summoning, a section of their fanbase dubbed Sleep Token “metal’s sexiest band,” largely thanks to lyrics such as ‘Or are you really here to cut me off? Or maybe just to turn me on’ and ‘I would be lying if I told you that I didn’t think that I could be your man / Or maybe make a good girl bad,’ combined with a raunchy bass drop in the song’s second half. This sexiness is something the band have leaned into on this US tour. During The Offering, members have been seemingly kissing through the masks, reportedly prompting a suitably ecstatic reaction from the crowd each time.
There are other, more wholesome displays of fandom, from fluffy crochet plushies to homemade necklaces. A video of guitarist IV putting on a cowboy hat given to him by an audience member at a gig in Dallas has yielded close to two million views on TikTok.
Back at the barrier at the El Rey stands Cassie Knox, who has come to LA from Houston, Texas. Cassie has now seen the band eight times, including at Radar in the UK.
“Sleep Token have a big thing about community,” she says matter-of-factly, when we ask whether it gets lonely following the band on tour. “I met two girls last night in San Diego, they’re here with me and we’re also going to Anaheim [the next gig on the tour].”
While every fan has a personal answer for what Sleep Token mean to them, Cassie’s response seems to be shared by many.
"They taught me self-love,” she says, holding a sign stating as much.
“THERE ARE SECRETS LEFT TO BE UNCOVERED”
Daniel Owen is the man behind the artwork of Sleep Token’s first two albums, 2019’s Sundowning and 2021’s This Place Will Become Your Tomb
WHEN DID YOU FIRST COME INTO CONTACT WITH SLEEP TOKEN?
“Around early 2018. I ended up becoming one of their lead visual creatives from [that year’s single] Jaws through to This Place Will Become Your Tomb, and some initial development on Take Me Back To Eden.”
HOW MUCH OF A BRIEF WERE YOU GIVEN IN EACH CASE?
“The briefs behind each project have varied greatly in scope, but usually only restricted to a few lines – in the case of Sundowning per song - or a paragraph to explore the central idea of This Place Will Become Your Tomb. Symbolism throughout history has always been a communication method that encapsulates a sense of power and reverence; my work for the project has always aimed to champion atmosphere while masking a considerable amount of intention below the surface.
"One example would be the Sundowning sigils as a whole: being informed by the passing of time and mirroring the positions of a clock face, referencing the namesake of the album. Individually, each sigil was a cipher I’d developed that represented a hidden selection of elements relating to the singles that later served as artwork – eventually all would be removed from streaming services and become an intentionally forgotten to reflect one of the central themes of Sundowning and its primary cover. A beautiful part of working with a band is that there’s an unparalleled level of bravery involved with taking the kinds of creative choices that many are too hesitant to pursue.”
SLEEP TOKEN PUT HIDDEN ‘CODES’ IN THEIR SONGS AND IMAGES. ARE THERE ANY SECRETS IN YOUR ARTWORK THAT FANS STILL HAVEN’T DISCOVERED?
“There’s certainly some things I’ve left seeded within my work that’s ready to be pulled from the future if I’m called upon. There are still some secrets left to be uncovered.”
In May, shortly before the release of Take Me Back To Eden, several select fans were invited to an exclusive listening session for the album in London. Chris Lloyd, who runs the Sleep Token subreddit, was one of them. He won’t divulge too many details of the event, but offers an anecdote that highlights the band’s dedication to keeping their enigma intact.
“We got there and there was just this stage with curtains,” he says. “They opened at the start of the album and we thought there was a Vessel mannequin just in a chair. It was really dark and there were loads of smoke, but it was really exciting. Then right at the very end of the session, the ‘mannequin’ stood up and it was actually Vessel – he’d just sat perfectly still the whole time! It was insane.”
The band show no sign of changing their minds when it comes to preserving their mystique. Hammer’s request for an interview with Vessel is, predictably, turned down. But this anonymity is something that their devotees embrace. The golden rule of Sleep Token fandom is to never, under any circumstances, divulge or speculate on the members’ real-life identities. Still, that hasn’t stopped some people trying.
“The mystery surrounding the band will always be a key element that draws people in,” says Discord mod Benji Purdy. “It’s a rabbit hole and people love diving into them. But I have found that since [2021 album] This Place Will Become Your Tomb, there has been a culture shift within the fanbase between those who want to respect the band’s wishes to stay anonymous, and those who have a general lack of respect and think the band don’t care.”
This ring of secrecy is intact today. Before the show, Hammer is sitting at a table in the taco restaurant adjacent to the El Rey. We can hear and see the security manager briefing in front of the venue.
“Tonight’s show is Sleep Token,” the security manager says, marching along his ranks like a general on the eve of battle. “Their whole deal is that they are anonymous. If anybody – anybody – tries to go where they shouldn’t, you MUST. STOP. THEM.”
In reality, transgression seems to be the furthest thing from anyone’s mind. The people queuing outside the El Rey are here to Worship, after all.
“Their music transcends their personalities as individuals,” Cassie Knox tells us. “Everybody has a part in this music, and from the messages that the band have put out, it seems like that’s exactly what he [Vessel] wanted.”
By the time the doors open, the excitement is palpable. Airport-style security gates mean everyone is thoroughly searched before entry and it seems half the audience has brought along trinkets, gifts and signs in their own expression of Worship. One fan has turned up with a bouquet of roses so big it is seen engulfed her head. They all make it through security without issue.
While some fans have been dressing up in full Vessel cosplay elsewhere on the tour, there’s no such regalia tonight, although many have covered their faces with painted Sleep Token sigils. Equally, it’s striking just how youthful the crowd is as a whole.
“It’s been like this the whole tour,” reveals Matt de Burgh Daly, guitarist/keyboardsist with support A.A. Williams, as he sits down next to Hammer to grab a bite pre-show. Williams and her band previously supported Sleep Token on their 2021 UK tour, and now they’re on these US dates, suggesting they’re within the headliners’ circle of trust.
“It’s funny actually,” Matt says between taco bites. “This is actually one of the smaller shows on the tour, I think. But we’re pretty nervous.”
Oh?
“Yeah, our drummer’s broken his arm – he’s having to play Def Leppard style!”
With its art deco exterior, crystal light fixtures, chandeliers and blood red decor, the El Rey Theatre feels more like it should be hosting a seance than a metal show. It’s not your typical dive venue. But where Sleep Token aren’t your typical metal band, sonically or visually.
From Hammer’s vantage point, a dark balcony overlooking the main floor, it looks like nearly everyone is adorned in some kind of Sleep Token memorabilia, be it t-shirts, hoodies, or even smaller items like necklaces or homemade earrings. A queue stretches from the merch stand to the barrier throughout the entirety of A.A. Williams’ set and right up until Sleep Token themselves appear.
Sure enough, the headliners’ arrival elicits a frenzy of activity. An extended shriek of pure ecstasy greets the band as they march onto the stage, and it’s not long before the audience is singing along ardently, tears literally streaming from some fans’ eyes.
Detractors may point to the prevalence of piano ballads in Sleep Token’s sound, but there’s no shortage of heft in tonight’s set. Chokehold is explosive, its pendulum riffs cutting through the air like a buzzsaw. Hypnosis has the booming, almost floating menace of a great Deftones track, fans waving their arms wildly throughout.
Even in terms of physical presence, there’s a marked difference from the band that toured in support of 2021’s This Place Will Become Your Tomb. Back then, Vessel seemed like a solid, rooted entity, his movements stiff and minimal, clinging to the mic-stand like he was tethered to it. This time out, he’s a ball of kinetic energy, bouncing, dancing and stalking his way backwards and forwards across the stage, even dropping to do push-ups during The Summoning. Bassist III and guitarist IV are similarly lively, headbanging furiously and commanding circle pits and walls of death with finger gestures and head nods.
The Take Me Back To Eden songs are especially visceral live. Vessel skitters across the stage during Vore like some malevolent ancient entity, switching between howls and soulful melodies before intoning the song’s key lyric: ‘I want to give you all, but nobody else will ever go?’
For all the excitement, background chatter falls away completely when segments of conversation between Vessel and Sleep play out. The distorted voices discuss everything from the fandom to the role the masks play in their mythology.
“In order for all of this to work there has to be a certain boundary in place,” Vessel says, his unearthly, pre-recorded voice spilling from the speakers. “They need to be able to project themselves onto this, without anyone else’s identity getting in the way. In turn, I need to be able to show my true self to them in a way that does not compromise their ability to connect.”
There’s certainly no shortage of connection as fans roar along to the likes of The Summoning, The Love You Want and Alkaline, some moved to tears as the music takes on new dimensions, the closing rave-metal thrust of The Offering ending the night on an exultant and triumphant note, before Vessel clasps his hands in thanks as Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) plays incongruously over the PA.
So where next for Sleep Token? In a year where they have notched up a Top 10 album in the UK – Take Me Back To Eden peaked at No 3 – and sold out venues around the world, it’s hard to say exactly where the ceiling could be for them.
“I could easily see them playing arenas here in the States within two years,” Benji states. “The demand here is insane – as seen by the number of people who’ve lined up at every almost every show of this tour.”
For a British metal band to break into the US market is no mean feat, and the buzz and excitement Sleep Token are generating here is starting to catch up with the noise that surrounds them back home.
Equally, their pop sensibilities enable them to serve as a gateway, their success on TikTok showing they don’t just appeal within the metal sphere, but to wider audiences whom then tumble further down the metal rabbit-hole after discovering them.
Uniting newcomers and dyed-in-the-wool metalheads alike, Sleep Token are a new breed of band, transcending genre boundaries by simply refusing to stay in one, and backed up by a mystery and spectacle all their own. They are as at home supporting Slipknot and Architects as they are appearing at festivals like Reading and Leeds – testament to just how influential and breakout they’ve become.
Crazy as it may seem, 2024 will likely be an even bigger year for Sleep Token, and they’ve already booked some of the world’s most iconic venues in that period. With Wembley Arena and Alexandra Palace shows in the diary for next April, Sleep Token will be looking to cement their place at the top of the mountain. How long before the Worship of Sleep Token becomes a religion?
MASKS REVEAL THE ARTIST’S VISION
Mario Garvera and Beatrice Rebondi are MysteryStar, an art studio specialising in masks, costumes and accessories. They also created the Vessel mask
WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND IN MASK-MAKING?
“We’ve always been drawn to the dramatic and theatrical aspects of expression, along with our shared love of music. We have produced thousands of pieces together over the decades. We never make replicas of our masks; they are, and always will be, one-off characters, created especially and never to be repeated.”
HOW DID YOU BECOME INVOLVED WITH SLEEP TOKEN?
“In early 2019 they were looking for a workable mask, as they hadn’t found anything wearable that could work onstage yet. We provided [Vessel and Sleep Token’s management] with several sketches and worked out together how to keep Vessel’s character essence and vision, while creating something that could work on a human head and be practical onstage.”
WHAT WERE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES?
“It took several modifications, especially around the shape of the head. We had to accommodate certain parts of Vessel was adamant were integral parts of the full-face mask for the photoshoots and a mouth - less one for the stage perfomances. These were the first two masks that we made for Vessel.”
WHY DO YOU THINK WE FIND MASKED BANDS SO FASCINATING?
“Masks have always been important to humans since perhaps the beginnings of civilisation. Ancient tribes created masks, for recounting their history and transmitting knowledge of their young; for healings and for warding off their enemies. In addition, it could be because masks are a created expression of the artist – the one - who created it, as well as the one who wears it – and as such reveal something of the artist’s mind and their vision.”
SLEEP TOKEN PLAY WEMBLEY ARENA ON DECEMBER 16. TAKE ME BACK TO EDEN IS OUT NOW VIA SPINEFARM
OBJECTS OF DESIRE
Members of Sleep Token's fan community are showing their devotion to Vessel and co by creating amazing sculptures, tarot decks, battle jackets and more
WORDS: MATT MILLS • PICTURES: KEVIN NIXON
THE SCULPTURES
Rick Murtagh from London designs his own Sleep Token sculptures, orbs and artwork
Rick: "I've been a metalhead since 2001. Chop Suey! (by System Of A Down) is what really got me into crazy metal stuff. My best friend, Rob, got me into Sleep Token in 2019. He was so into the band that I couldn't really understand it at first. When he sent me Sundowning, I liked it — just liked it, at first. Even during the This Place Will Become Your Tomb era, I was dabbling back and forth. I wasn't totally into it as much as I am now. Seeing them support Architects at Alexandra Palace [in 2022] was the turning point. It was the whole aesthetic behind them: the performance, the way the fans reacted — I got it! I've been a crazy fan ever since.
"I've been doing art for most of my life, and sculpting for about seven years. The first Sleep Token sculpture I made was of Vessel, for Rob. it was just a Christmas thing, to say 'thank you' for getting me into them. I just got more and more into it, especially with Take Me Back To Eden, with the release of Chokehold The Summoning and all that. My brain went into all these different directions. I started looking at the symbols, especially from Sundowning, and asking, 'What would be a good way to represent that?' I had sphere mouls, where you can pour resin in, and my brain went from there. That was this year and I've done loads ever since — it's been nonstop!
"Rob got me onto the Sleep Token marketplace [on Facebook]. He told me to showcase my art. I think the first one was my sculpture of Euclid, the character [Sleep Token gave every song on Take Me Back To Eden its own dedicated cover art, each featuring a different humanoid figure]. People started messaging, asking how much they sell for. It's gone from there and it's been a blur since. I tink that was in May.
"MY BRAIN WENT IN ALL DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS"
RICK MURTAGH
"The sculpting always starts with whatever my mind is fixating on — for example, a music video. I don't really know what my process is. With the orb stuff, I pick a colour theme and then I put the resin into the mould. The stand could be anything, like wires I've twisted or wooden pieces or PVC.
"My art is becoming more and more of a trade, but it's still a hobby right now. I get regularing painting commissions, but I also genuinely love doing it. If I can create something new that appeals to everyone, that's how I get by. I do a lot of nostalgic stuff. I do a lot of sculptures based on the Goosebumps books, the front covers. That blew up, in a weird way, because I didn't realize there are lots of Goosebumps collectors out there. I hit that niche early on and now I've hit something with Sleep Token. Being an artist [full time] is something I've been aiming for a long, long time.
"I'm going to see Sleep Token at Wembley and I feel like all of this is leading to an unmasking. It will be something cinematic, where they start off with The Night Does Not Belong To God and end with Euclid to encapsulate their whole trilogy they've created. I don't know if anyone can predict what's next, but wherever they go from here will make them more huge."
THE TAROT DECK
Emily Janicki from Missouri has delved into Sleep Token's occult side with these handmade cards
Emily: "I found Sleep Token not that long ago. It was on Tiktok: someone was doing a reaction video to The Summoning and I completely lost my mind. I had never heard anything like that in my life before, so I joined all the Facebook groups. I saw them in St. Louis in September and I am still feeling that high, which is wild. That never happens for me.
"They're the first band in metal that I've been a fan of. They've totally expanded my horizons as well. I love Bad Omens now, and Spiritbox. I'm definitely going to expand into more heavy metal — but for now, I'm just hooked on them!
"I wasn't going to make a full tarot deck. I posted one of the cards into the Vesselposting Facebook group, thinking of maybe getting it for a tattoo. When I shared it, everybody exploded, they loved it! They said I should make a full deck, so I did! I spent three days drawing, barely sleeping until I finished. I was absolutely obsessed with getting it done. I actually offer it for just the printing cost, so people can share the love for tarot and for Sleep Token. That Facebook group completely changed the course of all the art I was doing.
"I start making [tarot decks] a couple of years ago, and it was a super-inclusive, pink version of the tarot. I only got through, like, seven cards, and it was more about people and realism, but I gave up on it because I'm such a perfectionist. My first attempt was kind of a bust, but this one turned out great!
"I SPENT THREE DAYS DRAWING, BARELY SLEEPING"
EMILY JANICKI
"I've been going on a spiritual journey with tarot for about four years, since I've been in college. Since I graduated with my degree, I was actually getting my masters degree, but then I had my baby. Then, I went the whole art route. Now I own my own small business where I sell my art prints and it's totally taken me in a whole new direction.
"Eventually, I want to get a storefront in my hometown, if my Etsy store and my art grow that much. Making these fan decks where I just sell them for the print cost, because I don't want to profit off the band, is definitely a great way to get my art out there."
THE BATTLE JACKET
This amazingly detailed garment is the work of Tiffany Marie from Colorado
"I got into Sleep Token at the beginning of the year. I'm a really big fan of Ghost, they're one of my favorite bands, and I'm in numerous groups on Facebook. Someone posted a picture of Vessel in one of them. That was how I actually found the band, and then I did my own research on them from there. It all kind of spiralled from there, which led to the jacket.
"I AM A FUNERAL DIRECTOR BY TRADE"
TIFAFNY MARIE
"I made the jacket back in May, when the new album came out. That was also around the same time that I ended an abusive relationship and broke off the engagement. I'm from New York city originally, I don't have family here, so my life started spiralling at that point. I turned tot music and Sleep Token spoke to me; every single emotion I was having, every single song spoke to me about them. It's OK to have these emotions of longing, wanting and questioning, because you're going through this relationship with Vessel, essentially.
"I've been making battle jackets for more than five years now, more so in the wrestling community. I grew up with the aesthetics of battle jackets, not just in metal but in wrestling; Shawn Michaels had some really cool, elaborate ones. There's a lot of indie wrestling here in Colorado, and there are wrestlers out there running around wearing my work. I've also made a couple of Ghost ones, just because I saw them when they were here in Colorad.
"I like to experiment. I'm not a 'put a patch on a jacket and call it a day' type of person. I like to pick a topic and stay with it. That's just how my mind works. I'm a funeral director by trade, so I'm around death 24/7, and making my battle jackets is something where my mind goes into creative mode. I'm thinking of my designs, sewing, making my own patches — anything where I can step away from work and be in my own creative bubble.
"I use shirts as patches, buying as much merch from the band as possible. I don't want to make money off the band, so I don't sell them. I've been asked many times. I've also gotten some shit from gatekeepers, but my favourite is when one of them told me, 'Sleep Token sucks, but your jacket is pretty cool.' Ha ha ha!"
THE FANZINE
Mysterious Us duo 'Aries' and 'Conduit' are behind lavish Sleep Token fanzine Worship
Aries: 'Conduit and I are housemates, so we discovered Sleep Token at the same time. It was in 2021 and, immediately, we both had the same reaction, like, 'Oh my god!' You could feel it in every ounce of your body. Sleep Token were theo nly thing we had playing in the house for about a year straight.
"That night, we joined the Sleep Token Discord. We fell in love with the community and the idea of a fanzine was first mentioned by our friend from the Discor, who's from the South. They mentioned it and I wasl ike, 'I've been part of probably nearly two dozen zines at this point — I'd love to do this project with you.' We started Worship in March.
"We want to finish shipping out our first issue before we focus on a second one, but we have discussed the potential of doing a volume two — we've been floating ideas around for a theme. And, of course, we have lofty dreams. Our first big goal was to get our fanzine in the hands of the band, and I was actually able to get our first volume into [bassist] III's hands at a show. I held it out and he ran over and grabbed it."
Conduit: "They were touring with In This Moment [in 2022] and they came to our city. After the show, we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to drive six hours to see them in another city. It was addictive at that point!
"I WAS ABLE TO GET A COPY INTO III'S HANDS AT A SHOW"
ARIES
"Pretty much all of the zines we've worked on have been in the nerd sphere. Mine were related to a videogame franchise, and for Aries it's been anime, movies, videogames and things like that. We did this one because of the community: the amount of people so devoted and passionate about Sleep Token, from all walks of life. It was so fascinating that I was like, 'I need to bring all these people together.'
"There's an endless fountain of creativity [in the Sleep Token fanbase]. I think their anonymity encourages them to be more creative and in tune with themselves. People will always be able to find new ways to relate to the music or find new ways express their emotions regarding the music."
THE PODCAST
Arkansas co-hosts Dawson Reddin and Justin Jones are responsible for dedicated programme Sleep Talkin
"IT'S A PLACE FOR FANS TO WORSHIP TOGETHER"
DAWSON REDDIN
Dawson: "Discovering Sleep Token for me was a bit different than most, I'd say. My co-host Justin had been a fan for several years and tried to put me on to them when Sundowning was released. At the time, I just wasn't into it. About six months after Sundowning, I decided to give it a second chance and stumbled upon Dark Signs. In that moment, I was hooked — it was kind of strange to me, but I felt a sense of peace when listening to it.
The idea of Sleep Talkin honestly came from the awesome community. Justin and I are both admins for the massive Facebook group Sleep Token Vesselposting, which has nearly 20,000 members. I was sitting in my living room one day listening to Sleep Token and scrolling through the Facebook community, and thought it would be super-cool to make a dedicated podcast talking about the boys, news, merch, and so on — a place for fans to listen, enjoy and worship together.
"They exploded overnight, and all of us old fans were in complete shock and excitement. Personally, I would love to see them keep growing, maybe another album, because I'll never turn that down, and hopefully some music videos. A few other things would be some sick new merch, and a live DVD of their show at Wembley."
Justin: "I first heard Sleep Token in 2017. I'm big into fighting games and a fellow Killer Instinct player posted Calcutta. 'I've never hard anything like this,' his caption said. I clicked on it and was completely blown away. Their EPs One and Two were complete magic to me. The dark ambient tones were right up my alley. The tortured and twisted lyrics made me feel something I haven't in many years; they really make you think. Then there were these crushing breakdowns that came out of nowhere. I was hooked.
"We have so much respect for the band and its members, so we try to be as careful and respectful as possible when it comes to our show. There are many times we could have a guest on that has some connection to the band's past, and we have to be very careful what we discuss to make sure we are not opening a door to any identities. Sleep Token have blown up faster than I've ever witnessed. I hope they continue to grow in 2024."
An Offering from Drumeo | Sleep Token II
Source | December 19 2023
II: “I am II and this is an offering from Drumeo.”
[Drumming Performance — Vore]
Brandon Toews: “Well, to all of you out there watching, this is going to be a really special Drumeo live feature because this is the first recorded video interview that any member of Sleep Token has ever done, and we’re honoured that II has decided to do this with us. So, welcome here. Thanks for tuning in, and for any of you who don’t know who II is, he’s a founding member and the drummer for the anonymous band Sleep Token. And they just put out a brand new album this year called Take Me Back to Eden, which is one of my personal favourite albums of this year, of 2023. I highly recommend you go check it out because it’s unreal, and II’s playing is incredible.
“But before we jump into the interview, what you see here on the YouTube channel just scratches the surface of what we do here at Drumeo. Inside of our membership, we have thousands of song transcriptions with drumless tracks, including tons of stuff from Sleep Token. We have a full method that will teach you anything and everything about playing the drums. So if you want to check that out, there’s a link down below, drumeo.com/trial, and you can see everything we’re up to in the members' area.
“We’re going to get into it. We’re going to be talking about II’s drumming, we’re going to be talking about some Sleep Token songs, and II is going to be playing a bunch of tracks. Let’s get right into it. Here we go.”
[Drumming Performance — The Night Does Not Belong To God]
Brandon Toews: “So, from the drums, you can hear lots of influences. Just in your playing you can hear rock, metal, electronic music… How do you apply all of this within your drum parts?”
II: “I’ve always personally taken a lot of inspiration from the UK dance music scene. Listening to various subgenres of drum and bass specifically allowed me to incorporate stylistic traits from those genres into my vocabulary as a drummer.”
[Drumming Performance — Chokehold]
Brandon Toews: “So, over the three Sleep Token records, how has your playing evolved from the first to the last album?”
II: “I would say that while my stylistic approach and goals have generally stayed the same, my vocabulary on the kit has expanded. I try to work on not always using the same phrases or using those phrases in the same voicing to ensure the parts remain somewhat interesting. However, this in itself is a continual work-in-progress. As a player, I will admit that I – like others – don’t always achieve this. But, to me, that is very, very much all part of the journey itself.”
[Drumming Performance — Gods]
II: “As I mentioned, I’m also a big fan of R&B and pop, which has worked its way into my playing. I grew up primarily playing metal, so the next obvious step for me was to blend these other styles in amongst heavier playing to add versatility to my drum parts.”
[Drumming Performance — Dark Signs]
Brandon Toews: “So, when you’re developing your drum parts for the albums, are you just coming up with those yourself before the rest of the song is built, or are you hearing the other instrument parts first and then basing your parts off of that?”
II: “Most, if not all, of the time, I try to pay close attention to the vocals and figure out any specific syllables that can benefit from accents on the kit. I sometimes use the vocal line as a guide of sorts to dance in between what’s being sung to. Filling in those gaps, if you will. Typically speaking, songs don’t start from a particular drum part, although this isn’t necessarily deliberate.
“Another element I look for when writing are any specific syncopations that the drums must match. This could be a pattern on the guitar, a breakdown of sorts, something electronic… But I feel this takes away a lot of the guesswork when initially writing parts and provides me with a clearer idea of the song in question.”
[Drumming Performance — The Apparition]
Brandon Toews: “So, around the kit, you can see you’re using lots of different linear stickings and sticking patterns. What are some of the ones that you would say define your drumming?”
II: “I’ve always been a big Eric Moore fan and gospel drummers in general. But I’ve taken a lot of influence from a couple of Eric’s licks and find their way into my playing. As an example, I use an eight-note linear phrase, which is played as R-L-R-L-K-R-L-K.
“That, along with a phrase called the ‘3-1-3-2’, which is a triplet phrasing of nine notes played as R-L-R-K-R-L-R again on the hands and then finished with two notes on the kick. What I particularly like about this phrasing is that it’s three notes short of resolving itself. So, as a drummer, you’re forced to be creative with those last three notes and finish the sticking – the phrasing – in any way you see fit.”
[Drumming Performance — Atlantic]
II: “Additionally, I’m a big fan of the standard paradiddle. I use this as a chop starter often, as I feel it’s an organic way to prepare the listener for a slightly busier section within the drums themselves.”
[Drumming Performance — Alkaline]
II: “I also use the six-stroke roll often in various elements of my playing, whether it’s groove or fill-based. Another song I enjoy playing live is entitled ‘Like That’. This is from our second record. Arguably, the drum parts in that song are, to this day, my favourite that I’ve written.”
[Drumming Performance — Like That]
Brandon Toews: “So, when you’re performing live with Sleep Token, do you try to stay true to the record or are you actually taking quite a few creative liberties in the live set?”
II: “I would say that most of the parts that I tend to play in a live setting vary drastically to what was tracked on the record itself. This happens for a number of reasons. Sometimes, when I have more time to sit with a finished track while rehearsing for a tour, I can look at it through a different lens and subsequently come up with a more interesting variation live.
“On the other hand, these things can happen more naturally and take on a different feel or sticking due to simply playing a certain song for long periods of time across touring. There are, of course, certain parts in each song that must remain true to the original. This could be a syncopated guitar part or even an electronic part on the pads that serves more of a supporting role within the song.”
[Drumming Performance — Rain]
Brandon Toews: “So, who are some of your favorite drummers who have influenced your playing over the years?”
II: “When I first started playing, I – like many others in my generation – were heavily into drummers such as Joey Jordison, Matt from the band Mudvayne, as well as the more extreme speed players, such as Derek Roddy.”
[Drumming Performance - Take Me Back To Eden]
II: “I was very much obsessed with the gospel style of playing. I spent most of my early adulthood studying players.”
[Drumming Performance continues — Take Me Back To Eden]
II: “Tony Royster Jr, Eric Moore, Thomas Pridgen. Slowing down- Simply slowing down YouTube videos in a feeble attempt to understand their concepts, their stickings and influences. These days, I would describe my playing style as a mixture of that signature Abe Cunningham, Deftones-inspired heavier sort of grooving with a linear-style gospel influence.”
[Drumming Performance continues — Take Me Back To Eden]
Brandon Toews: “So, II, what are some of your favorite Sleep Token songs to perform live?”
II: “I’ve always enjoyed playing a song from our first record entitled 'Sundowning', called ‘Higher’. The parts in that song have always felt very interactive to me, very fun to play, while maintaining a fair deal of variance across the song itself. In regards to any newer material, I enjoy playing a track called ‘The Summoning’ due to the live addition of a drum solo that gives me a little more creative freedom, as well as its challenging feel.”
Brandon Toews: “Well, that’s going to conclude this stream with II from Sleep Token. II, thank you for being here and sharing your insights into Sleep Token’s music. And with that, we’re going to close with some final pieces of music from Sleep Token and I’ll leave this one to II. Take care, everyone.”
[Drumming Performance — Higher]
Sleep Token: “Our identity is represented through the art itself”
Millions of listeners. Sold-out arenas. No identity. Sleep Token’s unstoppable rise has been breathtaking to behold, doing it all on their terms, giving the briefest of glimpses into the multiverse they’ve created. Ahead of their biggest-ever headline show at Wembley Arena, we search through past interactions for the meaning behind the mystery and find real beauty in anonymity…
Source | December 15 2023
Words: David McLaughlin
Photos: Andy Ford
If you’ve come here looking for answers, welcome to the club. The questions you’re posing might offer more useful insights. When we asked our own, in the end, we were left with even more questions. All of this has very much been by design.
Contrary to popularly held misconceptions, Sleep Token have done more than one press interview in their seven-year rise through the alternative ranks. They’ve communicated to the wider world through Kerrang! twice, in fact – in their early days via their enigmatic, faceless leader Vessel, and again through an unnamed ‘Servant’, each time leaving behind brief but tantalising breadcrumb trails that offered intrigue and suspense.
“The true identities behind Sleep Token are immaterial and ultimately irrelevant,” Vessel boldly decreed in our profile piece introducing them in 2018. “Our identity is represented through the art itself.”
“It matters not who they are,” the Servant doubled down at the band’s behest in our follow-up Q&A (admittedly, it was more ‘Q’ than ‘A’, but still…) accompanying the printed review of their 2019 debut album, Sundowning. “It matters not what they say.”
The key takeaways from those teaser dispatches only reaffirmed and repeated the messages they left now-K! Editor Luke Morton with at the conclusion of his earlier 2017 communiqué. That “nothing lasts forever”, and giving one simple instruction: “Worship.”
Since then, worship is exactly what’s gone down. Across a trilogy of albums that’s included 2021’s This Place Will Become Your Tomb and culminated in this May’s Take Me Back To Eden, they’ve transformed themselves from the status of eyebrow-raising cult proposition to a genuine scene phenomenon. How big the anonymous collective could become is a compelling unknown.
At the time of going to press, they have amassed more than 2.3million monthly listeners on Spotify, a rapid and impressive increase on the not-exactly-shabby quarter-million mark they hovered around at the tail-end of 2022. On May 31, when they announced they’d be playing a headline date at London’s OVO Arena Wembley on December 16, the event sold out in just 10 minutes, such was fan fervour for tickets. To borrow an old phrase, there’s something happening here, but what it is ain’t exactly clear.
To their credit, Sleep Token have orchestrated all of it beautifully. In their parlance, they don’t play gigs; they play Rituals. Those in attendance, they consider their Congregation, devoted and primed to bow down and pay tribute. Onstage, Vessel stands barefoot, cloaked and masked, with any exposed skin daubed in charcoal to conceal his identity. The rest of the band remain equally incognito, distinguished only by the Runic marks on their masks and their Roman numerals: II (drummer), III (bassist), and IV (guitarist). Flanking the musicians with disquieting stillness are three hooded backing vocalists.
When it’s working in concert with the rustic staging, lights and music, the effect is akin to one of Ari Aster’s folk-horror fever dreams. Under all that garb, nobody knows who anyone is. And that anonymity appears to be entirely the point.
“Art has become entangled with identity,” Vessel explained in his initial communications with us. “The aim with Sleep Token is to provide something people can engage with and relate to without being obstructed by the identity of its creator. Our aesthetic is there to fill the void left by that absence.”
There’s also a hefty dose of baked-in lore to sort through, should you so desire. As legend has it, Vessel was anointed in a dream by an ancient deity called Sleep, who promised “glory and magnificence” for his servitude, loyalty and carrying out of Sleep’s bidding. Each of the band’s songs are but offerings to this deity, detailing their stormy relationship and the power dynamics at play between them.
The cryptic words of the band’s old bio offered some colour and context to this central thematic tension.
“This being once held great power,” it read, “bestowing ancient civilisations with the gift of dreams, and the curse of nightmares. Even today, though faded from prominence, ‘Sleep’ yet lurks in the subconscious minds of man, woman and child alike. Fragments of beauty, horror, anguish, pain, happiness, joy, anger, disgust and fear coalesce to create expansive, emotionally textured music that simultaneously embodies the darkest, and the brightest abstract thoughts. He has seen them. He has felt them. He is everywhere.”
The real-world origins of the band remain shrouded in just as much mystery. As if to muddy the waters further, the music defies easy categorisation, wilfully ranging in tone and shape across a sphere of alternative sounds. One minute there’s a super-technical, djent-like assault on the senses; the next it descends into sparse and delicate balladry, with glossy touches of modern R&B and pop sensibilities in between.
That level of invention and mystique has caught the music-loving public’s imagination and sparked wild theories about the identity of those responsible, as well as the possible meanings behind it all. The undeniable talent and creativity fuelling the endeavour has led many to believe that it must be the work of an already established and accomplished artist.
Bastille’s Dan Smith has been considered a potential candidate. There’s some left-field speculation about people like Sam Smith, James Arthur or Hozier possibly being involved. Wannabe online sleuths have noted some stylistic similarities between Vessel’s vocals and those of Don Broco’s Rob Damiani, further highlighting how the two appear to never be booked for live duties at the same time.
The band’s hyper-engaged online communities have debunked most suggestions thus far, only adding to the mystery that surrounds their rise to prominence. In the social media-driven age of TMI oversharing, it’s an impressive feat to have kept things so tightly under wraps all this time.
To that end, rule one of the band’s official Reddit page states that “revealing the real names or providing information that leads to identifying members is strictly forbidden”. That’s a mark of “respect and gratitude” according to user PersimmonOwn2478.
“Vessel has given all of us a gift,” they explain. “Through this magic music that makes us feel. To go against their wishes, to discuss the people behind the masks, or to sully a sincere wish for anonymity, would be a disgrace.
“In giving of himself, his past traumas, his emotions that gave birth to a beautiful catalogue of music,” they summarise. “He asks of us just one thing: to focus on the message behind the music.”
Someone who knows a thing or two about the power of a mask is Corey Taylor, who counts himself among the band’s ever-growing legion of devotees. On his recent visit to the UK, we tried to pin him down on what it is he digs about them so much.
“I love how there’s nothing but the music and what they want to put out there,” the Slipknot frontman says of the band’s unique allure. “I love that people are so into that, too. I mean, I know how fucking hard it is to keep that up. There’s definitely something to be said about the mystique. But if the music wasn’t amazing, it wouldn’t be as cool. The thing that inspires me the most is watching people really come into their own.”
That’s putting it mildly. Earlier this year, Take Me Back To Eden’s lead single Chokehold became a viral sensation, with fans uploading their reactions and interpretations to TikTok. Lorna Shore singer Will Ramos recorded an a cappella cover and raved about the band on his YouTube channel. During his headline performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London in March, American Idol star Chris Daughtry performed an acoustic take of his own. They join Ihsahn from Norwegian black metal legends Emperor, The Darkness’ Justin Hawkins, Loathe’s Kadeem France and Architects’ Sam Carter, who’ve all been vocal about their adoration in the past.
With a clutch of show-stealing festival gigs under their cloaks, including Reading & Leeds, an upcoming sell-out U.S. tour, and that crowning headliner in the capital to look forward to, it’s hard to see anyone having a better 2023 than Sleep Token.
How the hell did they pull all this off?
Just how far down the rabbit hole are you willing to go? What you put in might determine how rewarding you find the experience. It’s entirely possible to simply appreciate the talent, enjoy the spectacle and find entertainment in the mix of theatrics and musical ambition. There’s a reading of much of the material that sees it as a classic framing device for navigating challenging real-life relationships. It might all be as simple as a metaphor for sex and break-ups.
If you’d prefer, there’s a whole Sleep Token universe to immerse yourself in, so rich and dense is the fantastical narrative realm they’ve created across their lyrics, artwork and associated iconography. Spiritually, the effect is similar to the mythological world-building of J.R.R. Tolkien or Frank Herbert, set to music.
That’s what’s drawn Scarlett Heselwood in. One of the band’s most active followers on Discord (where her handle is ‘Sundowner’), she has created a comprehensive, labour-of-love guide to the band, on which she’s been working for four-and-a-half years and counting. In her 32-page, 15,000-word-plus document she details her personal interpretation of their output, which in tandem with a three-and-a-half-hour playlist that works as a chronological discography mirroring her timeline of events, she dives into everything from quantum entanglement to Mesopotamian religion. It’s all part of her quest to bring coherence and understanding to what she interprets as toxicity and drama between Sleep and Vessel.
It doesn’t claim to be authoritative. In fact, with the release of Take Me Back To Eden dropping new clues and shedding fresh light on some earlier events in the trilogy, so much remains open to alternative interpretation. Rather than being right, this is precisely the point of the exercise. Hers is but one of many possible takes. You’re invited to offer yours, too.
“The intention is to take your own personal meaning from the songs,” Scarlett writes in her guide, by way of disclaimer, to ward off anyone mistaking her passion for anything other than just that. “The thing is that a huge part of the point with Sleep Token is to be wrong, and to explore what your personal feelings are with regards to each song. Being incorrect doesn’t make the work any less valid. This is why we have never been given a concrete answer on anything.”
Those thoughts echo what Vessel said in his first interview in Kerrang! and speaks to a key reason so many people have latched onto this band in almost obsessive fashion. Vessel’s anonymity allows the congregation to project onto him, receiving Sleep’s message in their own unique ways. He is but a conduit, and the power of that space for personal reflection cannot be underestimated.
“There exists a considerable body of art that explores the deeper recesses of the human mind. Sleep Token serve as a means to explore this on an individual basis,” he stated. “The music is a representation of one individual’s deepest and most fundamental emotions and desires. This is what people connect to, as they see themselves in this individual, and the music becomes about them.”
Our past interaction with the Servant is called to mind on this point, too.
“‘Vessel’ is no name,” they explained. “It is merely a descriptive term, one that may indeed be applied to us all. He is no different, in this regard. The entity is the music. There is nothing further to discover. The gathering of Followers only further exemplifies the truth, that the identity of the creators matters not to those who believe.”
That’s certainly borne out by the devotion these online communities have shown since those early days. Such is the forensic level of analysis involved, their most dedicated Followers even picked up on visual clues to work out the title of the collective’s latest album, way before its release.
There are extensive threads dedicated to cataloguing and dissecting Sleep Token lore. Fans post images of their homemade costumes, the artwork this music has inspired them to create, their custom memes and tattoos, and share personal stories about how the band have helped them process and deal with real-world issues. The community that has huddled around Sleep Token’s success seems to communicate with uncommon levels of respect and empathy, valuing inclusivity and lifting one another up.
Masks in music are nothing new. Artists like Hollywood Undead, Ghost and, of course, Slipknot have all worn them and built rabid fanbases off the back of their distinct brands of mystique. But not since the runaway success of twenty one pilots has a band’s following appeared so immersed in every detail of what they do. Sleep Token seem to inspire something similarly devotional. Worship, even. Those who go all the way down that rabbit hole tend to unearth all kinds of fulfilment and reward.
Given the unexpected growth spurt Sleep Token have experienced so far, it would be a fool’s errand to put a limit on when that might level out. It has taken years for this recent surge in interest to coalesce in a moment, but a moment they are most definitely having. What comes next may even be mightier still. Perhaps we’d best leave it to The Great Big Mouth, Corey Taylor, for some parting wisdom. He’s kind of an authority on this stuff, all things considered.
“Sleep Token can be the next generation,” he states in no uncertain terms of their long-term potential. “What they’re accomplishing right now is fantastic. Selling out Wembley in, like, what, 10 minutes? That’s crazy.”
It’s a bold proclamation but you’d expect nothing less. Good luck arguing otherwise. And just as the success of his own band once blew the doors down for others to follow in their footsteps, he’s seeing equally good omens in what’s happening here, too.
“Anytime somebody in our genre is blowing up, it’s great for everybody,” he asserts. “Screw the competition, man. If we don’t walk together, we’re just going to be tripping each other up before we hit the fucking finish line.”
The future will take care of itself. The glory and magnificence Sleep vowed to bestow on Vessel seem to have arrived. Enjoy it. After all, nothing lasts forever.
Sleep Token play London’s OVO Arena Wembley on December 16. This article originally appeared in the autumn 2023 issue of the magazine.
Pick up your copy of the winter issue for an exclusive Sleep Token centrefold poster.
The Iconic Drumming Behind "The Summoning" | Sleep Token
Source | February 27 2024
II: “This is an offering from our third album ‘Take Me Back to Eden’ entitled ‘The Summoning’.”
II: “During a section on this song where specifically there are no drum parts, I added a live addition of a drum solo, and I want to break down one section of that. What’s happening in this section is a group of three notes played as R-L-K. Typically, this would be counted as a triplet format. What I’m doing here is effectively counting this as sixteenth notes, so I’m playing series and groups of three over a feel of four, which gives the illusion of the voicing itself modulating.”
II: “An additional section within the solo is an eight-note sticking pattern of R-L-R-L-K-R-L-K. I play this twice through and the voicing changes with each repeat.
"Before I demonstrate this piece for you, a transcription-based offering is available at the link below. Once again, this offering is called ‘The Summoning’.”
[Drumming Perormance — The Summoning]
Metal Hammer
May 2024
THE 100 METAL SONGS THAT CHANGED OUR WORLD
100 SLEEP TOKEN THE SUMMONING
(TAKE ME BACK TO EDEN, 2023)
The meteoric rise of Sleep Token caught us all by surprise. At the start of 2023, the mysterious masked band were one of the metal underground's buzziest names. Led by enigmatic vocalist Vessel, they were a band to watch, for sure, but firmly attracted the niche passion of a cult following.
then came the song that would change everything. On consecutive days in early January, the band released two singles from their third album, Take Me Back To Eden: the burning, crashing Chokehold, followed by The Summoning — and it was the latter track that would turn them into an Earth-conquering, expectation-shattering phenomenon.
Veering between depraved tech metal, soulful vocals and shimmering electronics, an enourmous hymnal chorus gave way to an Earth-shifting breakdown and screams. Intricate and groove-heavy, The Summoning was more like three songs seamlessly crafted into one genre-gluid modern masterpiece. And it still had its trump card to play: a bendy, thirst-trap, funk outro that went vital on TikTok, turning the internet into a lusty puddle. Sleep Token were the most talked-about band on the planet.
"THERE ARE HINTS OF EARLY SLIPKNOT THERE"
COREY TAYLOR
"It took me three listened ot [The Summoning] to realise that when they do that whole psychedlic section at the end, that it's actually the same chorus as it was before, only in a completely different way," Evanescence's Amy Lee told Revolver. "And I lvoe it even more for that. I thought they just went a whole new direction and wrote a new part, and then I was like, 'Wait that's the same...but not at all.'"
Sleep Token weren't the most obvious choice for a commercial breakthrough. The success of The Summoning, an unconventional, seven-minute brutal shapeshifter, bucks just about every music industry trend there is.
"It's going a lot of different places, and I think there isn't any other band out there right now that's able to do that," Judas Prist frontman Rob Halford said earlier this year.
The Summoning set a chain reaction in motion that was unprecedented in modern metal. In just a few weeks, the band saw their Spotify figures jump from the thousands into the millions. To date, the track has been streamed more than 123 million times on Spotify, and 39 million on Youtube. On release, Take Me Back To Eden went straight in at No.3 in the UK and was the most streamed metal album of 2023. When the band announced a show at Wembley Arena, tickets sold out in 10 minutes. Earlier this year, they left the metal-heavy roster of Spinefarm Records for RCA, the home of mainstream megastars Justin Timberlake and rapper Doja Cat.
"In heavy music, or even just rock, even in the last decade or 15 years, there's so few stories of bands ever breaking through," says Health bassist and producer, John Famiglietti, who supported the band at Wembley and sees Sleep Token's success as proof metal can still resonate on a massive scale. "This is one of the few times I've seen a band go from a fucking club to an arena in six months. And I don't know the last time that happened."
It's worth pointing out that in the social media era where celebrities and artists are more accesible than ever, Sleep Token have achieved all of this on their own terms. To date they've barely done any press, while their masked mystique is all part of the allure. Last year, fans reacted with outrage when bassist III's identity and birth certificate were allegedly leaked online, seemingly leading to a decision to wipe the band's Instagram.
"There are hints of early Slipknot there," 'Knot vocalist Corey Taylor told The Allison Hagendorf Show in 2023, thinking back to the early internet days before Slipknot removed their masks. "At first, we were like, 'Nope. You get nothing. This is what you get, you figure it out. We'll let the music speak for ourselves.'"
Today, Sleep Token are being mentioned in the same breath as potential future Download headliners Ghost, Gojira and Architects. The only difference? Sleep Token have managed to ascend to the same level as those bands in a fraction of the time. Metal needs new superstars who will push things forward, innovate, and keep the scene relevant — and with Sleep Token we have a band we can believe in.
The Iconic Drumming Behind "Hypnosis" | Sleep Token
Source | September 17 2024
II: “This next offering is a track from our second record entitled ‘This Place Will Become Your Tomb’ and it is called ‘Hypnosis’.”
II: “The intro fill to this song is a simple five-note sticking which is played as follows: R-L-R-K, and ending with a flam on the snare.”
II: “During the final breakdown of this song, the first half of this groove is played as straight eighth notes. Then, during the second half, I switch to a dotted eighth note or dotted quaver lead hand. You count this typically as: 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3-4. After that it resolves itself and you land back on the one again.
“This is ‘Hypnosis’ from our second record ‘This Place Will Become Your Tomb’.”
[Drumming Perormance — Hypnosis]
The Iconic Drumming Behind "The Offering" | Sleep Token
Source | November 12 2024
II: “This track features on our first record entitled ‘Sundowning’ and it’s called ‘The Offering’.”
II: “During the final breakdown in this song, on the last eight bars, I play a pattern between the china and the floor tom. In my vocabulary, I usually play the sticking of R-L-L-K very often across many, many songs. To change this, I’ve taken away the left-handed double-stroke and I play it as single strokes – as: R-L-R-K. This is felt as sixteenth notes and continues across the whole groove.
“This song is ‘The Offering’, from our first record ‘Sundowning’.”
[Drumming Perormance — The Offering]
Metal Hammer
November 2024
BEHIND THE MASK
The mythos, the mystery, the meaning — we decode every Sleep Token song
One EP (2016)
The music and the mystique — it all began here
WORDS: MATT MILLS
THREAD THE NEEDLE
Released in September 2016 as the lead single for debut EP One, Thread the Needle is the first song Sleep Token ever put out. It weaves together sensual alt pop and djent riffs, loading it all with layers of enigma. Is it a lamentation of a toxic relationship, a song about a bloke gagging for a shag or something deeper and more mysterious? The imagery suggests a sexual undercurrent. 'Bury me inside this labyrinthine bed,' sings masked frontman Vessel. 'We can feel that time is dilated.' Fans have theorised that Thread the Needle is about Vessels's obsession with Sleep, the enigmatic deity that hovers over Sleep Token's entire existence, which makes it their origin story. Yet it could be a metaphorical tale about a real relationship — one whose course is chart throughout the rest of the EP.
FIELDS OF ELATION
Maintaining the themes of Thread the Needle, Fields of Elation deals with adoration-tinged toxicity. 'The daylight recedes in unison. This room buries the hours like death,' Vessels says at the start of the song. He could be referencing sex, staying in a bedroom while the sun sets, but as Fields of Elation proceeds from subtle industrial music to heaving metal, the lyrics take on a horrible dependent edge. 'Your name is a sin I breathe, like oxygen,' begins the second verse. By the end, Vessel is so trapped inside this relationship that he repeatedly declares, 'I'm losing my faith in our lives apart.
WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS
The seven-and-a-half minute When The Bough Breaks brings the EP's thematic trilogy to a traumatic head. The more troubling parts of the relationship at its heart are brought to the foreground. 'Everything we touch turns water into blood,' runs the chorus, while Vessel accuses his unspecified partner, 'You don't really love, you just hate to be alone,' before desperately unloading the lines, 'Don't lie to me!' Those bitter lines, combined with the song's title, make it obvious that this is a split — though whether it's between two people or Vessel and the deity with which he's obsessed is a different matter.
TWO EP (2017)
Love and obsession as Vessel travels through space, time and geography
WORDS: MATT MILLS
CALCUTTA
The three songs on Sleep Token's second EP are named after historical settlements, each older than the last — seemingly a metaphor for the decay of a relationship. Calcutta is named after the British-Indian settlement that was established in the late 17th Century, though the region has been inhabited for more than 2,000 years. The song sees Veseel sounding repaired by a new partner (or maybe Sleep). 'Missing pieces find me,' he intones at one point, later adding, 'You are more than warm belief / Melting skywards / More than silence broken / I'm whole again.' Spoiler alert: it won't last.
NAZARATH
Named after the millenia-old settlement in Israel (the birthplace of Jesus's father Joseph, according to the Bible), Nazarath shifts between metal and more atmospheric sections. The lyrics are vividly violent, suggesting whatever Vessel is singing about has taken a turn for the worse. 'I'll see you when the wrath comes knocking on your bedroom door with money,' Vessel hisses at one point. It gets more vivid. 'Let's load the gun, makes her eat the tape in the bathroom mirror,' he sings in a disconcertingly angelic voice. 'See if she can guess what a hollow point does to a naked body. Literal or metaphorical, they're unquestionably furious.
JERICHO
Cited as the world's oldest walled city, Jericho has been inhabited for more than 11,000 years. The song that takes its name sees Vessel fixated on a previous relationship — possibly the one referenced in Nazareth. 'Until I wake, I dine on old encounters,' he intones. He seems to have moved on, though how that will play out isn't clear. 'You taste like new flesh — say my name again, he commands at one point. The quick bounce back and comparisons to past events suggest that, once again, it won't last.
JAWS/THE WAY THAT YOU WERE (2018)
The standalone singles that sit outside the lore — or do they?
WORDS: MATT MILLS
JAWS
Divorced from the storytelling of the first two EPs, Jaws sees Vessel beg for a seducated partner to open up emotionally. 'Show me what wounds you've got, show me love.' Yet there's something dangerous about the singer's cagey partner. 'Are you watching me with th eyes of a predator as you move towards the door?' he wonders. The single's artwork, which fills the outline of a shark's mouth with pictures of flowers, also hints towards the person in question being a duplicitious one.
THE WAY THAT YOU WERE
Sleep Token's first original non-metal song (they had already recorded a cover of Outkast's Hey Ya! by this point). Vessel hopes for his subject to return to their former self with such lyrics as, 'And you think I don't notice the way you were, and act like you don't feel it.' Towards the end, he strongly suggests that whoever he's talking to is losing their strength and happiness because of an abusive relationship: 'How much did they hurt you? And how much did they break you?' A romantic partner or Sleep? Only Vessel knows.
Sundowning (2019)
Love is never straightforward...
WORDS: EMILY SWINGLE
THE NIGHT DOES NOT BELONG TO GOD
On the surface, The Night Does Not Belong To God lauds of Sleep and His nocturnal domain. Floating in like a prayer, the track likens slumber to paradise. However, despite the initial sense of beauty, it actually hints at Sleep's darker intentions. As the title suggests, the night is ruled by Sleep, who follows His own rules, unbound by concepts of omnibenevolence. Rather than solace, Sleep deceives Vessel with a false taste of divinity in order to make Vessel a dependent servant. Sleep's control mirrors the neurological phenomenon of 'Sundowning', the sensations dementia sufferers may experience in the evenings — a reflection of Vessels's heightened confusion.
THE OFFERING
The Offering follows Vessel's descent into the dark depths of sleep. As Vessel tumbles down into a void of unconsciousness, synths clashing with embittered riffs, he slowly succumbs to Sleep's control. As the track tussels between piano-led introspection and furious rumbling, the conflicting tone conveys the complexities of holy devotion, yet this quickly transforms into resentful snarls of 'take a bite. Worship once seemed to offer salvation, yet the relationship has devolved into something parasitical. If nothing changes, Vessel's loyalty to his god could consume him entirely.
LEVITATE
Sleep isn't the only relationship Vessel tackles on Sundowning. Basking in a soft haze of piano, Levitate vulnerably hints at a lost love. The track seems to suggeset Vessel felt inadequate in the previous relationship; he insists he wont be able to reach his ex-partner 'where the angels inhabit, deeming himself unworthy of Heaven while his partner is deserving of a place beyond the pearly gates. Throughout, Vessel seems to be consider his love an anchor, ashamed to be dragging down a lover that is destined to fly. After leaving his partner, he needed to fill the void with a new obsession — enter Sleep.
DARK SIGNS
Amid Vessel's battle with Sleep, he nestles in more details about his complex past relationship. Pitch black omens and alarm bells are among the many Dark Signs that Vessel ignores while pursuing his ex-partner. Sadly, the end result was toxic; nowadays, the partner would prefer Vessel to 'forget that you know me' entirely. In the aftermath, Vessel barely knows himself, admitting, 'I miss the man I was... I hate who I have become. The track also mentions 'marks on the dashboard,' alluding to the car crash depicted on Take Me Back To Eden's Granite. Foreshadowing? You bet.
HIGHER
Higher blurs the lines between pain and pleasure, traversing a diverse palette as it explores the 'bloody and fury' that dominates Vessel's life. Switching between dreamy synths and light post-metal breakdowns, it's unclear whether Vessel truly wants to escape the pain, or whether he lusts for it. 'We just can't resist the violence,' Vessel implores. While the track could be reflecting on his past relationship, the lyrics also explore Vessel's obligation to Sleep, referencing how Sleep needs 'a melody' to repay 'the debt' that Vessel owes.
TAKE AIM
Take Aim exists in an effervescent hazze, gentle and vulnerable as its lovesick musing. It paints Vessel as prey, constantly at the mercy of his lover, a hunter poised and ready to shoot. For Vessel, love stings 'like weapons kill,' desperation to please making him 'hate himself' — yet, despite all the pain, he longs for the brutality of love. If love is pain, then Sleeo's intoxicatingly cruel autocracy is the height of affection.
GIVE
Vessel takes centre stage throughout Sundowning, but Give hands the reins over to Sleep. High vocals dance over a backgdrop of castanets, a swell of transcient instrumentals tempting Vessel to give in to Sleep's command. Sleep promises he 'will be there' for Vessel, vowing to watch out for him and protect him from enemies, if Vessel simples 'gives in' to Sleep's command and embraces his dark impulses.
GODS
Sundowning tends to exist in softer alt metal soundscapes, but Gods is another beast entirely. It takes place after submitting to Sleep's seducation on Give, leaving him fearsome enough that even the 'Gods avert their gaze' from him. As soon as it rips open, the track is tyrannical, Vessel transforming from crooning boy next door to a raw, rampaging metal howler, rebuking the god for luring him down a dark path.
SUGAR
There's something bewitching about Sugar. Curious synthetic arpeggios lure you in, a bubble of intoxication as Vessel admits he's 'developed a taste' for the pain he experiences in a toxic relationship. Whether the 'chains' he finds himself addicted to are literal (naughty, naughty) or figurative, Vessel is fully consumed by the control he once resisted. It's a sharp twist from the venom unleahsed on Gods, but perhaps a sign of Vessel accepting the inevitable. It is easier not to fight.
SAY THAT YOU WILL
The vulnerability is back in full force for Say That You Will. Once again Vessel is divulging his unhealthy history with love; as Gods and Dark Signs show, when Vessel surrenders to the subject of obsession, he can transform into someone quite violent. Reflecting on his ex, we learn that Vessel's relationship was painted with 'sorrow' as well as 'blood, the 'impulse to love and the instinct to kill' becoming entangled. Rather than trying to change the narrative, Vessel seems to be addicted to the violence of love, doomed to repeat the same tale in his devotion to Sleep.
DRAG ME UNDER
Drag Me Under is a sedative in sonic form, soporific piano sinking you deeper into its clutches. It almost mirrors the album's opener, emulating a liminal headspace. While Vessel tries to fight back throughout the record, Drag Me Under admits defeat — and Vessels sounds positively angelic as his falsetto cries ring out, not an ounce of anger in his voice. It's as if any love is good enough for him, no matter how bloody — he implores Sleep, or a lover, to 'drag me under again,' no matter how bruised he may end up. The track's final section also seems to plunge underwater, perhaps preluding This Place Will Become Your Tomb.
BLOOD SPORT
Blood Sport is a fluttering display of regret and suffering in the face of love. The track sees Vessel mourning his past relationship, sombrely wishing he could 'be forgiven' and have his partner back. Yet Vessel is aware of his mistakes; he confesses he played a role in destroying his partnership, admitting he 'made loving [his partner] a blood sport'. The song seems to reflect how violent delights often have violent ends — and, unfortunately for Vessel, he's destined to have another violent relationship with Sleep.
SHELTER
Recorded for 2020's stripped-down From The Room Below session and released on the deluxe edition of Sundowning, Shelter is simultaneously bittersweet and tender. It adds another layer to Vessel's regret over his old partner, reliving memories with fleeting 'what ifs'. It's a sign that Vessel is still lovestruck, longing for a second chance in the hopes that 'this time' he will do things right.
THE COVERS (2017/2020)
Sleep Token have strayed into pop territory via Outkast and Whitney
Given the sheer amount of lore and theorising surrounding each Sleep Token's song, it's not surprising that even the band's choice of covers have come under scrutiny. In 2017, they released an unlikely piano ballad cover of hip hop duo Outkast's 2003 megahit Hey Ya! — a song Outkast rapper Andre 3000 has said is "about people who stay together in relationships because of tradition...but you end up being unhappy for the rest of your life". Familiar, much?
Two more similarly stripped-down covers followed three years later: Whitney Houston's 80s pop hit I Wanna Dance With Somebody and Billie Eilish's 2018 single When The Party's Over, both recorded for 2020's From The Room Below session. Both mine the same themes of desperation and loneliness, tying in with Sleep Token's worldview.
THIS PLACE WILL BECOME YOUR TOMB (2021)
Down, down, into the deep, dark sea...
WORDS: EMILY SWINGLE
ATLANTIC
While Sundowning drops listeners into the thick of Vessels's destructive worship, This Place Will Become Your Tomb takes us back to where it all started: underwater. Before becoming a submissive pawn eager to spread Sleep's message, Vessel finds himself at the water's edge, prepared to take his own life. The record charts his physical and spiritual descent. Each track is accompanied by nautical depth in metres and fathoms, marking the downward journey of Vessel's body as it plummets and his mind surrenders to the solace of sleep. Piano-drenched opener Atlantic roots us in the scene, Vessel begging for his life to be taken by the titular ocean's 'blue light'. In the limbo between life and death, electronics twisting, Vessel encounters another form of sleep — the deity that will be his salvation. The nautical depth associated with Atlantic, 914m, is the depth at which angler fish live — hence the fish on the single cover.
MINE
Lines begin to blur on Mine, the first hint of Sleep embodying Vessel and using him as a mouthpiece. Sleep seems to take the reins on this track, talking of He was 'paralysed' for years before finding his perfect Vessel. Despite opening on a doe-eyed note of affection, the track slowly transforms into grandiose promise of devotion. Yet Sleep's ulterior movies are clear behind the wall of whirring synths and belted vocals. One notion is consistently repeated: 'You will be mine.' Sleep doesn't consider Vessel to be an equal — he is a vessel to manipulate, consume and control.
LIKE THAT
The album's name comes to light on Like That. While Vessel may have survived his drowning attempt, the ocean was where he first submitted to Sleep — and now he is forever trapped under the surface', frozen in a world where he is forced to fulfill his deity's wishes. The water is a tomb in another sense, representing the death of his autonomy. It's the first flicker of Vessel's resentment.
THE LOVE YOU WANT
As Vessel descends into the ocean, we also see him sinking further into his subconscious, unravelling scattered memories before Sleep wipes him of his pain. While The Love You Want emulates a lush, euphoric piano ballad, it highlights a profuse embalance of power in his past relationship. Vessel is left thinking he has to change to be loved, bending himself to match the other person's desires, even if it is detrimental to him. Unfortunately, the same is happening again with Sleep. The track doubles as a promise to his deity, vowing to meet His standards.
FALL FOR ME
Fall For Me's polyphonic pitch-shifted vocals see Sleep encouraging Vessel to 'fall for' Him, to commit his life to servitude forever. While Sleep hides His vulnerability behind a veil of vocal effects, His more honest confessions take place during the music video, flashing on screen: 'I am inadequate, I am lost. I am no good...' He needs Vessel to spread his message, each song a Token to entice worshippers back in.
ALKALINe
Due to Vessel's experience of love, he considers his role in a partnership to be one of utter sacrifice. Alkaline explores the catastrophic impact of that mindset, how toxic affection leaves him 'altered' forever. The chemical imagery throughout paints love as a corrosive force, something that eats away at Vessel. That sentiment of consumption is recurring throughout Sleep Token's catalogue, from Jericho's talk of tasting 'new flesh to Take Me Back to Eden's literally all-consuming Vore.
DISTRACTION
While each track slowly lulls Vessel further into the realms of Sleep, Distraction sounds like defeat. 'It's too late for me,' he confesses, echoing vocals sinking into the depths of the track. Its gentle yet powerful flow reflects Vessel's conflicting emotions in the face of Sleep's control. While he welcomes Sleep in, he also knows that doing so will forever change him, leaving him unable to escape or return to his old life.
DESCENDING
Descending seems to be Vessel's own brand of twisted acceptance, acknowledging that he does have some degree of power in the partnership. Without a vessel, Sleep would be powerless, a forgotten deity without a minion to spread his message. The dark, club-worthy pulse is delivered with a flare of arrogance, Vessel insisting Sleep will always come 'crawling back to me'. The track asks Sleep to prove his power, Vessel urging him to 'come on and save me.'.
TELOMERES
Telomeres is a rare example of Sleep and Vessel speaking on equal footing. While Vessel has been slowly descending further, succumbing to Sleep's control, Telomeres captures the exact moment that Sleep decided to intervene in Vessel's journey to the seabed. The soothing music reflects Vessel sinking into Sleep's embrace: 'You guide me in to safety...this is the start of something.'
HIGH WATER
While it's unclear exactly why Vessel attempts to drown himself, there's a high chance it is linked to his past lover. As he sinks further into Sleep's control, High Water allows Vessel one final moment to reflect on the life he is leaving behind. Floating in the watery depths, Vessel acknowledges the toxicity of his old relationship, processing the scars it left on his soul. 'You'll never bear the weight of two' he croons, before admitting that he shouldn't continue to 'pretend [they] will ever be together'. Vessel eventually waves off his past, welcoming his new era of holy allegiance to Sleep.
MISSING LIMBS
Missing Limbs has the deepest coordinates of the lot — Challenger Deep, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. For all its twanging, acoustic charms, the song is dark. Vessel has hit rock bottom, relinquishing full control to Sleep, his mind is becoming a blank canvas. Vessel is essentially empty, a carcass ready for Sleep to embody — and He does, the track closing on a hellish whir, the scraping gult of an electronic sea consuming him.
TAKE ME BACK TO EDEN (2023)
The end of one cycle? Or the start of it
WORDS: RICH HOBSON
CHOKEHOLD
Reinforcing the imagery threaded through its two predecessors, the opening track of Sleep Token's third album once again centres around a relationship that seemed perfect but has gone bad (something suggested up by its aggressive, violent title). The twist here is that this could all be Sleep showing Vessel that his relationship will go wrong, rather than narrating something that has already happened. Sleep is offering salvation from a cycle of destruction that He has seen before, but also suggests that Vessel is (or will) experience is pre-destined, right from Chokehold's opening line: 'When we were made, it was no accident. It also introduces lyrical motifs that are then picked up again on future songs. On the Sleep Token Discord, the user Valentine goes one step further, stating, "Chokehold is a great intake of air after holding your breath to dive to the bottom of This Place Will Become Your Tomb. [...] Chokehold is the state of being between living with [another person] and living without them. They feel they can do neither at this point, but must choose one."
THE SUMMONING
Much of Take Me Back to Eden is based around the idea of cycles, reinforced through repeated imagery. Colour-coded lyrics like 'I look for scarlet and you look for ultraviolent' echo 'I've got a blood trail, red in the blue' from Sundowning track Higher (and come up again on this album's Aqua Regia). It reinforces the idea of repetitive patterns, potentially of abusive or collapsing relationships. Some Reddit users even posit it isn't just meeting someone new, but a prelude to the tragedy explored previously (and in future) in Sleep Token lore.
GRANITE
Sleep Token don't do 'stories' in the traditional sense, but Granite seems to be a narrative about a car crash, possibly caused as a result of addiction/self-destructive tendencies. It also introduces the idea of alchemical reactions, contrasting sulphur with granite, with some fans pointing out sulphur dioxide causes granite to degrade.
AQUA REQUIA
Another reference to a chemical reaction: Aqua Regia is a scientific compound used to refine gold. There's a lot of gold imagery in the song's lyrics, as well as a suggestion of the of drug abuse hinted at in Granite (and referring to blood trails from The Summoning). It also goes back to the idea of the romance Vessel is singing about being destructive and toxic, but equally addictive. This is Vessel at their most 'human', but also at their most damaged and broken.
VORE
Voraraephilia is the erotic desire to be consumed by someone or something else. There's an obvious sexual connotation to the lyric imagery, but it also ties in to themes of addiction and being subsumed, perhaps by Sleep or by an external relationship. There's also an element of desperation that is common throughout Sleep Token's songs, wanting to escape anything that could separate the pair. We also get repeated holy water references from Granite, reinforcing the idea of this being part of the cycle.
ASCENSIONISM
Read as a conversation between Vessel and Sleep, there's a level of ambiguity as to whether Ascensionism is about the idea of past ties and past lives in a metaphorical sense, or more literally the idea of different Vessels repeating destructive patterns in the past. The song revisits imagery from Vore, The Summoning and Aqua Regia, playing into the idea of cycles and an inevitable sense of destruction and deception as part of the relationship.
ARE YOU REALLY OKAY?
As part of the destructive behavior and relationship Vessel has been exploring, we start to get a sense of despair as he is unable to save someone he loves from their own destruction. The song covers a sense of distance that is grwoing in the relationship and the self-destructive imagery is seen as a callback to some of the lyrical content on Sundowning. One Reddit user even suggests that the single art seemingly portrays a figure with an infant, suggesting the idea of a miscarriage as part of the album's overall tragic arc, leading to more destructive behavior.
THE APPARITION
With so many callbacks to previous albums and songs throughout Take Me Back to Eden, it's impossible to tell if the record is supposed to be read as a linear narrative. The Apparition seems to be one of the more direct songs on the album, dealing with conversations between Vessel and the entity, in particular honing in on the sense that Vessel is doomed to despair each time he wakes up, left to make sense of past memories and experiences.
DYWTYLM
Sleep Token have plenty of songs about heartbreak, addiction and destructive behaviour, so it's unsurprising DYWTYLM would be seized upon by the fanbase. Although it continues those dark themes, this track also starts to move away from the idea of repitition; it's more about acceptance and self-love, fans drawing parallels with the oceanic imagery of the previous record used at the very start to a sense of moving on that becomes crucial to the closing tracks of the album.
RAIN
After finding self-love, Vessel is looking to move on and end the destructive cycle. Fans have interpreted the line 'I know what I am; the mouth of the wolf, the eyes of the lamb' as Vessel recognising that he is a prophet for a false god, linking it to the biblical passage Matthew 7:15('Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves').
TAKE ME BACK TO EDEN
The album's title track ties its overarching narrative together, with plenty of callbacks to what has come before — both on this release and their previous ones. It also reinforces the idea of a cycle being inevitable: the line 'when we were made, it was no accident', originally from Chokehold, is repeated, as if Vessel is trying to escape the cycle, that is in itself a part of the same cycle.
EUCLID
'I must be new', Vessel sings on Euclid, and fans have seized upon this as an admission that the band will be mocing on completely with their next release — it feels like the closing chapter of the first phase of Sleep Token's story. Ultimately, Take Me Back to Eden ends by going right back to the very beginning: the song's final verse is directly lifted from Sundowning opener The Night Does Not Belong To God, suggesting that the cycle is looped and we're right back to the beginning of the band's lyrical narrative as laid out on their first album.
Rock Sound
Source | April 2025
Again, fully transcribing this would be far beyond my physical capabilities.
Metal Hammer
May 2025
"THERE WERE PEOPLE IN THE EARLY DAYS WHO DIDN'T GET IT"
With new album Even In Arcadia and a Download headling appearance imminent, Sleep Token are officially the biggest new metal band of the decade. This is how it happened
WORDS: RICH HOBSON • PICTURES: ANDY FORD
"How we got here is as irrelevant as who we are — what matters is the music and the message." So Sleep Token singer Vessel told Metal Hammer in 2017, in the very first interview this mysterious figure ever conducted, and one of only a scant handful that has been done since.
Except that quote isn't quite accurate. Who Sleep Token are behind the masks and under the robes may not be a concern to a fanbase deeply protective of the band's true identities, but their journey from tech metal curios to the biggest success story of the 2020s is a different matter.
Since releasing their debut single, Thread The Needle, back in 2016, Sleep Token's fame has grown exponentially. Post-pandemic in particular, their ascent has been dizzying, with Sleep Token headlining arenas in the UK and US and, most impressively, about to headline Download's Main Stage.
The mystique surrounding the band has played a big part in their popularity, but there's more to it than the spectral hand of Sleep, the mysterious deity that guides the band (according to the mythology). This is how Sleep Token became the most successful metal band of the decade, in the words of some of the people who were part of it.
Sleep Token were shrouded in mystery from the start. The initial concept of an anonymous band was in place even before they released a note of music, as was a broad version of the lore on which the band would be built, though Vessel was initially known as 'Him'.
George Lever [Sleep Token producer 2016-2021]: "The starting point was removing this idea of the music you listen to being related to the person making it. By being anonymous, the listener is forced to relate to what they're actually hearing."
James Monteith [Tesseract guitarist/publicist at Hold Tight PR]: "We used to run the press area of [UK tech metal festival] Techfast and, in 2016, I was approached by Tom Quigly, who was a scene regular and ran a few blogs at the time. He said he was working with this new band, would we maybe be interested in doing their press? We ended up talking for an hour, and he rolled out the whole concept, the imagery and everything about it...other than the music.
"WE DESCRIBED IT AS 'SAM SMITH MEETS MESHUGGAH'"
NATHAN BARELY PHILLIPS, BASICK RECORDS CO-FOUNDER
George Lever: "The lore/narrative was pretty loose still, but it definitely existed."
James Monteith: "There was nothing specific as such, more this idea of creating an occult vibe and feeling, led by this prophet-like character who leads a religion. I remember thinking, 'This is all very interesting, but where's the music?'"
The wider world got their first taste of Sleep Token in September 2016 with the release of Thread The Needle, a song whose haunting atmosphere, gentle piano and emotive vocals were punctuated by jarring tech metal-style breakdowns. The song was accompanied by a video featuring abstract visuals that gave no clue as to the band's identity. It was followed three months later by the self-released, three-track One EP, which brought them to the attention of Basick Records, who had helped break bands such as Enter Shikari, Sikth, and Bury Tomorrow.
George Lever: "A lot of the first EP was actually us trying stuff out. We recorded the drums on a whim at Monnow Valley Studio in Wales. I introduced him to one of my friends, who actually still drums in them now."
Nathan Barley Phillips [co-founder of Basick Records]: "I raelly liked One. We [Basick] wanted to put something together where we could amplify what Sleep Token were and what they were doing. It was still relatively scrappy at that time, but it was clear there was a vision from day one."
James Monteith: "We shared an office with Nathan, so we discussed it with him. Then an email popped into our inbox with one of the early demos of Calcutta [which would eventually appear on 2017's Two EP]. It all clicked instantly. I'd never heard anything like it before. It sounded like Meshuggah mixed with Bon Iver."
"IT SOUNDED BRILLIANT. I HAD NO IDEA IT WAS THEIR SECOND SHOW"
JAMES KENT, PERTURBATOR
Nathan Barley Phillips: "People assume everyone got onboard from day one, but that wasn't the case. There were some raised eyebrows around the anonymity and the presentation, even the songwriting."
James Monteith: "In the tech metal world there was a lot of buzz and excitement early on, but outside of that it seemed to be really slow going. The press really didn't know what to make of it."
Nathan Barley Phillips: "In its simplest terms, we described it as 'Sam Smith meets Meshuggah'. Those were the layman's terms we used to describe it to people who might not get it. Believe me, there were people in those early days who didn't!"
Part of the reason behind that bafflement was due to the fact that the band didn't give interviews — even the similarly anonymous Ghost had spokem to the media in their early days under a pseudonym. In May 2017, they finally relented and conducted their very first interview, done via email for Metal Hammer's website.
James Monteith: "We always got requests, but the band said from the start they were anonymous and wouldn't do them. It helped create more curiosity because nobody could get access to them."
Matt Benton: "You can't do an introductory piece without an interview. We managed to get an agreement [from Sleep Token] for an email interview with Metal Hammer. Even then, the band knew they didn't want to have a voice.
Nathan Barley Phillips: "There were a lot of decisions that were super-interesting to be involved with, especially in that development stage where we were making decisions about how it was presented, the language we wouldu se, whether we should do interviews. That was the acorn that informed a lot of how t hings were handled today.
Vessel (in the Metal Hammer interview): "As musicians we are inspired by the human conditions and a plethora of artists, but we are deeply moved by His words and continue to do our utmost to bring them to life. As followers we are bound by a duty to combine our crafts to create music that conveys some of our most primal, and powerful emotions."
ARCADIA GAMES
Breaking down what we know about Sleep Token's new album, Even In Arcadia
WHAT DOES THE TITLE EVEN IN ARCADIA MEAN?
Arcadia is an ancient Greek idea of a natural paradise where everything is unspoiled. The phrase 'Et in Arcadia ergo' — 'Even in Arcadia, there I am' — was often inscribed on tombstones. In the context of Sleep Token, it could mean that Sleep is as inescapable as death, or possibly that Vessel has found new paradise after Take Me Back Eden but remains emotionally troubled.
WHAT ARE HOUSE VERIDIAN AND FEATHERED HOST?
When Sleep Token started teasing the campaign for Even in Arcadia, they created a puzzle that, once solved, invited fans to make a choice between the green heraldtry of House Veridian and the white heraldtry of Feathered Host. The two singles released at the time of print have matched the heraldtry of a house — Emergence (House Veridian) and Caramel (Feathered Host). Reddit suggests that the House names are inspired by fantasy/sci-fi wargame Warhammer 40,000, where House Veridian represents technology and might, while Feathered Host may refer to Tepok, the feathered serpent god who commands a sacred host. In those terms, it could mean the choice between moving on/resisting or submitting to Sleep's influence.
WHAT IS EMERGENCE ABOUT?
In typical Sleep Token fashion, it seems to be about a struggle of identity and purpose. It could be read as Sleep encouraging Vessel's 'true' personality to shine through, or Vessel willingly giving himself to escape pain; 'You might be the one to take away the pain and let my mind go quiet.'
WHAT IS CARAMEL ABOUT?
Few think there's a grand mystery behind this one — it's all about parasocial relationships, and real-world instances where fans have crossed the line with Vessel in the wake of Sleep Token's fame: 'Every time they try to shout my real name just to get a rise from me.'
Matt Benton: "It's one of only a few interviews they've ever done. It's something I'm glad exists, because it's like getting the Word of God."
Sleep Token's second EP, Two, was released in July 2017. It found the band expanding their mix of tech metal, metalcore, pop and R'n'B across its three tracks. The buzz around the band was growing, despite the fact they'd yet to play live — a mooted headlining show at Camden's Black Heart pub was scrapped when they got an offer to support Norwegion psych rockers Motorpsycho at London's Islington Academy in October 2017. A month later, they opened for synthwave trailblazer Perturbator at ULU in Central London.
George Lever: "I had freedom to offer interpretations of what I was hearing. It was a very fortunate combination of personalities and ideas. There was never any, 'We're going to take over the world'-type chat. It was more, 'Do we like this?' 'Let's do more of that.'"
Nathan Barley Phillips: "After Two came out, I started getting calls from booking agents and promoters who I'd not heard from in a while. They wanted to speak to me about Sleep Token."
Matt Benton: "The first time seeing them in the flesh onstage was pretty strange. They were wearing these quite rudimentary masks. But even at the Motorpsycho show, there were some people there who very obviously knew the songs. When they did the Outkast cover [Hey Ya!, originally released in 2017], you could hear a pin drop. Vessel had such a commond of the room through his vocals — something that's not really changed."
James Kent [Perturbator]: "We'd been given a few options for bands that wanted to open that show, but I remember selecting them because I thoguht they sounded really good."
Kamran Haq [promoter and Download festival booker]: "The Perturbator gig was more like a showcase for Sleep Token. A lot of people had never seen or heard the band before but were blown away: 'What the fuck is this?!'"
Matt Benton: "You could see this was a band who were finding their feet and organically growing. They had such a strong idea of who they wanted to be both on- and offstage."
James Kent: "It sounded and looked so brilliant, so professional. I had no idea it was only their second show."
The calculated caution surrounding Sleep Token's early live appearances soon evaporated. After opening for Loathe and Holding Absence in Manchester and London in March 2018, they hit the festival circuit hard that year, playing The Great Escape in May, Download in June (on the fourth stage), Techfest in July, and Reading and Leeds in August, squeezing in a session for Radio1's Rock Show amid it all.
Matt Benton: "The Great Escape was the first point they'd started to get industry legitimacy. There was still a sense of, 'Who is this band? What are they gonna do?'"?
Kamran Haq: "That Great Escape show was incredible. It was super-hot and the room was absolutely packed — you couldn't move in there. I reckon they only played four songs. But it was special too because it was the first time a lot of tastemakers were seeing the band."
Adam Ryan [Great Escape festival director]: "In terms of acts that would go on to really blow up, we had Fontaines D.C., Sam Fender, Slowthai... It was a fantastic year. But Sleep Token ended up being the talk of the festival."
Nathan Barley Phillips: "Trying to keep some sense of anonymity was a real mission. Particularly getting them to and from the stage without anyone seeing who they were."
James Monteith: "Techfest felt like a nice full-cicle thing, because that's where we'd first heard the concept and now they were playing to a completely overpacked room. It was the first time I knew something special was going on — we'd never seen anything like it before."
For all the increasing live activity, Sleep Token had yet to play their own headline show. That changed on October 11, 2018, when they performed at the intimate and atmospheric St Pancras Old Church in North London.
James Monteith: "It was their first sell-out event, which also became a bit part of their legend."
Matt Benton: "That was the first affirmation that what they were doing was going to work. Everything really picked up from there too."
Nathan Barley Phillips: "It really felt like a coming of age for the band. It was the first moment where everything felt fully formed and fully realised. It was like, 'This is what it could be.' You could trace a kernel of some of the things they were doing at the St Pancras show to some of the massive shows they've done since."
Having signed to Spinefarm Records, a subsidiary of major label Universal, Sleep Token spent the early part of 2019 recording debut album Sundowning with George Lever in a studio in Wells, Somerset. The first song from the album, The Night Does Not Belong To God, was released in June 2019, with each subsequent song dropping on YouTube at sunset at fortnightly intervals. By the time the album was released in November 2019, the band had already embarked on their first US tour, opening for metalcore outfit Issues on a bill that also features Polyphia and rapper Lil Aaron.
George Lever: "We did Sundowning in three months — we went from demo to final master being released in just 12 weeks. We didnt have days off; we'd do seven in the morning until seven, eight or even nine at night every day for three months. We were in each other's pockets; we'd go to the gym together, swim, do the sauna... All this stuff to recover from being sat down all the time. There was a lot of time to spend holistically being friends making this record. We didn't know how to make this thing, but we had a confidence that we'd get there in the end. That's my favourite three-month period of my life."
Skyler Acord [Issues bassist]: "Our booking agent sent us this EP Sleep Token had released and I was blown away. It felt like I could see the future. Usually, you walk in during the opener and get a beer and talk as loud as you can, right? But everyone was engaged. It was like seeing Slipknot in '99 or something, except, it was different from the nu metal of yore. A lot of that had this trailer park, 'I'm insane!' vibe. Sleep Token is poetic — less malt liquor, more wine."
Sleep Token were on an upswing as they entered 2020. Their first UK headlining tour in January saw them return to Islington Academy, where they'd played their first gig as openers for Motorpsycho just over two years earlier. The plan was to enter the studio in March 2020 to record their second album, This Place Will Become You Tomb, with producer George Lever. Then Covid upended everything.
George Lever: "We started making that album and the first day was when lockdowns began. Tomb... was rough for all of us emotionally. There were liftstyle pressures as a result of the lockdown that made it not very conducive to making art that is supposed to be welcomed or welcoming. A lot of those songs are, in one way or another, about love, love being lost or remorse, they are compassionate tales that are designed to bring the listener towards the artist. It's hard to do that when it feels like the world is going to end."
This Place Will Become Your Tomb was eventually released on September 24, 2021, three months after Sleep Token made a memorable appearance at Download Pilot, the first major post-Covid festival. It reached No.39 in the UK charts, giving the band their first Top 40 album.
Since then, devotion towards the band has only intensified. In January 2023, Sleep Token put out singles Chokehold and The Summoning, the latter going viral on Tiktok, leading to a dramatic increase in their streaming numbers. When third album, Take Me Back To Eden was released in May, it hit No.3 in the charts. In December, Sleep Token played Wembley Arena — their first ever arena headlining show. Just a year later, they performed at the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena in London.
James Monteith: "In January 2023, Tesseract ended up playing a festival with them in the Netherlands. Architects were the top of the bill, we were main support, then Northlane were below us and Sleep Token were opening. Within 12 months, they were an arena band. Crazy!"
Kamran Haq: "It took Bring Me The Horizon 10 years to get into arenas. Architects, 14 years... Sleep Token did it in less than five. It's pretty nuts."
On March 13, 2025, Sleep Token released Emergence, the first single from their hugely anticipated fourth album, Even In Arcadia. It was followed on April 4 by another new song, Caramel. As is usual in Sleep Token's world, everything is enveloped in enigma — an online puzzle gave fans a chocie between 'House Veridian' and 'Feathered Host', with no explanation as to what either was or how they plug into the wider Sleep Token lore. But once again, the silence has only fed the appetite of fans, something underlined by their upcoming debut headlining appearance at Download festival in June, and their subsequent US arena tour later this year.
"SLEEP TOKEN HAVE BECOME AN INDUSTRY IN THEIR OWN RIGHT"
MATT BENTON, PUBLICIST
Kamran Haq: "To go from playing Download's fourth stage to headlining the festival is spectacular. I don't think we've ever had it happen, especially in such a short space of time. The only thing I can equate it to is something like My Chemical Romance or Linkin Park.
Matt Benton: "Sleep Token have become an industry in their own right. I've got friends in merchandising and they say Sleep Token shift more merch than any other UK heavy band — more than even Iron Maiden."
James Kent: "The imagery definitely helped. The fact it's all pretty accessible too — they have a lot of R'n'B, electronica, some aggressive djenty stuff... it's a good gateway. I had no idea it'd blow up like it has. Now I'd love to open for them!"
Nathan Barley Phillips: "Bands like Ghost and Sleep Token aren't successful because they wear masks. They're successful because they write great music. Masks don't mean anything if the music isn't any good."
Matt Benton: "I'll be interested to see, when the first official TV movie of the band gets made, the difference between the reality of what happened and the story that gets told. In a way, the myth becomes the reality."
Kamran Haq: "We all thought the band was special, but nobody in a million years thought they could be what they are now."
EVEN IN ARCADIA IS OUT ON MAY 9 VIA RCA. SLEEP TOKEN HEADLINE DOWNLOAD ON JUNE 14
2025 The Metal Roundup Interview w/ George Lever
Source | May 14 2025
Transcript
2025 Behance Article (deleted)
June 2025
Noruwei, under the creative direction of Timcet, designed and produced the visual universe for EVEN IN ARCADIA, the fourth studio album by the British anonymous British band Sleep Token, released by RCA Records on May 9, 2025.
The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
All visuals were conceived and executed without the use of AI.
Our journey began with the Sony RCA creative team and led us into the core of Arcadia: a multi-layered concept structured into distinct environments and phases.
The title Even In Arcadia refers to the Latin phrase Et in Arcadia ego, popularized through paintings by Guercino and Nicolas Poussin, and later integrated into mysterious sculptural elements like the Shepherd's Monument at Shugborough Hall.
Arcadia, in this context, isn’t a fixed place, it’s a system of symbols, utopian imagery and fragile balance. Our mission was to translate that into a consistent visual narrative across multiple releases.
Sketches
Initial concept art phases explored the thematic structure of the album: identity, conflict, metamorphosis.
RCA Creative Director Leo Araujo developed early sketches to define the main composition that could be expanded across four animated visualizers.
Banners
Each single was accompanied by a banner: graphic elements designed by the talented illustrator Alex Tillbrook inspired by the song’s title and core message. Each banner will burn during the animation and the fire symbolized the ignition of a conflict that spreads throughout the entire visual universe.
Character Design
In the world of Arcadia, two factions emerge: House Veridian and The Feathered Host.
Veridian stands for strength, control, and resistance (“The house must endure”).
The Feathered Host symbolizes emotion, intuition, and circularity (“The cycle must be broken”).
These two symbolic systems collide visually and conceptually throughout the four visualizers.
House Veridian
The Feathered Host
The Black Flamingo
The Flamingo is key symbol of transformation, struggle, and unstable beauty. It appears on the album cover and in all the animation teaser presentations.
Its 3D design was developed in collaboration with Locus Solus Studio (Amsterdam), based on a study of real flamingo movement to capture elegance and mystery in an animated context.
Single 1 - Emergence
Released: March 13, 2025
Set in a garden, [the] Emergence animation depict[s] the protagonist, Vessel, undergoing a transformative rebirth and a new existence with Sleep.
The background structure is a hidden monolithic palace.
Single 2 - Caramel
Released: April 4, 2025
The scene moves inside the palace: polished marble, sharp light and shadow contrasts and filtered sunlight reveal a setting that’s both sublime and suffocating.
The environment reflects a paradox: "The stage is a prison, a beautiful nightmare." It exposes the duality of fame and creation, trapped and observed.
Single 3 - Damocles
Released April 25, 2025
We created a fountain to represents power and the weight of expectation.
As water cascades from above, the blue blossoms suggest glory, yet the structure itself evokes the ever-present possibility of collapse.
Single 4 - Even in Arcadia
Released: May 2, 2025
The final visualizer reveals the city of Arcadia from a distant cliff. It is a moment of stillness before destruction, he overlook symbolizes the tension between idealized spaces and the shadows that linger within them.
The Glitch
A hidden detail appears briefly in each single: the glitch.
An instant revealing the ongoing battle between the factions.
While most symbols were decoded by the Sleep Token community, the glitch remains a subtle visual code for those who look closer.
BTS
This section shows the creative pipeline behind the project, starting from a selection of high res still frames from the animations.
Credits
CREDITS
Client: Sony RCA Records
Project Management, digital art and production: Noruwei
RCA Records team:
Senior Creative Director: Leonardo Araujo
Creative Manager: Shoshana Reist
SVP of creative: Niki Roberton
VP Marketing: Aaron Stern
Noruwei team:
Digital Artist: Elia Pellegrini (Timcet)
Chief Creative Producer: Nicola Morino
Creative Producer: Romina Kolewa
Concept Art: Massimiliano Nigro
Flamingo Model creation: Locus Solus
Banner 2D illustration: Alex Tilbrook
This wasn’t just a commission, it became a connection and we are proud to have played a part in shaping it!
2025 Backstage Explorer's Interview w/ Lani Hernandez-David
Source | August 2 2025
Transcript
2025 Sleep Talkin' Interview w/ Shaun Hodson of Loki Films
Source | October 18 2025
Transcript
Sleep Token's manager Ryan Richards talks global success as Even In Arcadia LP hits 100,000 UK sales
Source | December 17 2025
Ryan Richards, CEO & artist manager, Future History Management, has spoken to Music Week about rock’s impact in 2025 and the outlook for the genre.
Richards discusses the success of chart-topping acts Sleep Token and Those Damn Crows in the latest edition of the magazine as part of our end-of-year chart trends analysis.
Heavy music was a key part of the British revival in 2025, although it was arguably building on strong foundations from the likes of Bring Me The Horizon. Rock music was also the focus of this year’s National Album Day – and Music Week drew on exclusive data for a report on the heavier end of the genre.
Ryan Richards was a key figure in the rock resurgence in the past 12 months. He steered Sleep Token to No.1 with Even In Arcadia in the UK and US.
The band’s fourth album is among the biggest releases of the year with consumption to date of 100,000 units, according to the Official Charts Company (technically that six-figure total will be confirmed in the coming days).
“For us, the key has always been letting the art lead,” Richards told Music Week. “Sleep Token haven’t built their world through traditional media or personality-led activity – it’s all been about creating something immersive that people feel part of. The intention behind the music, the visuals, and the live experience all works together and invites a global audience in without ever compromising who they are.”
The British band are signed in the US to RCA, with COO John Fleckenstein telling Music Week earlier this year that their huge streaming results are “a testament to the power of their music and the community behind it”.
In the UK, consumption for Even In Arcadia is dominated by streams, which make up 69% of the total.
Their catalogue is also performing strongly with third album Take Me Back To Eden (Spinefarm) adding 62,764 units in the UK so far this year (including 52,782 sales-equivalent streams). It has already surpassed last year’s total of 59,668 units and reached 167,039 units in total.
"Scoring No.1 albums in both the US and UK felt like a major moment not just for the band, but for heavy music more broadly"
Ryan Richards
Sleep Token currently have 5.9 million monthly listeners on Spotify. They also secured multiple Grammy nominations.
In the US, Even In Arcadia secured the largest streaming week ever for a hard rock album.
“Breaking internationally is not easy for UK acts at the moment, particularly in the rock space, so seeing this project connect so strongly across the US and Europe has been incredibly satisfying,” said Richards. “Scoring No.1 albums in both the US and UK felt like a major moment not just for the band, but for heavy music more broadly. It shows that if you build something authentic and distinctive, the audience will follow.”
Furthermore, Welsh metal band Those Damn Crows – also managed by Future History – made their mark at the albums summit this year.
“Those Damn Crows’ No.1 was another sign that rock is genuinely having a moment again,” said Richards. “Fans are responding to bands who bring honesty, huge songs, and a proper connection with their audience. The UK has always had a powerful rock culture, and this year has shown just how strong that foundation still is.”
There were other big results in rock including two No.1 albums chart results for Yungblud (including Aerosmith collaboration One More Time), plus No.2 entries for international acts Deftones and Ghost, and Top 20 finishes for Babymetal, Spiritbox and Turnstile.
Future History Management has announced recent signings to its roster including As It Is, Bilmuri and Wage War.
“Looking ahead to 2026, the opportunity is there if we keep investing in artist development, live infrastructure and giving fans meaningful experiences,” said Richards. “The audience for heavy music is absolutely growing – younger listeners are discovering rock and metal in big numbers, and they’re engaging with it in the same way they do with any major genre. It feels like expansion, not nostalgia.”
Subscribers can read our full chart trends of 2025 report here.
Kobalt signs Sleep Token drummer II to publishing deal
Source | January 21 2026
Kobalt has signed II, the drummer behind the Grammy-nominated band Sleep Token.
“Known for his powerful yet nuanced drumming style and as a key songwriter of Sleep Token, II brings a unique blend of technical mastery and emotional depth that has become central to Sleep Token’s distinct sound and captivating live performances,” said a statement from the publisher.
The Kobalt deal follows a hugely successful year for Sleep Token, whose Even In Arcadia topped the albums charts in the UK and US. Even In Arcadia delivered the largest streaming week ever for a hard rock album in the US, with every track charting on the Hot 100.
Internationally, Even In Arcadia reached No.1 in Canada, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as the UK and US.
“What a privilege to be part of this incredible band that has taken the world by storm, also to be working with Welsh legend Ryan Richards is the best,” said Kenny McGoff, EVP head of creative UK & GSA, Kobalt. “With so many Sleep Token fans already at Kobalt, it's an honour for us all to protect and serve the songs.”
"What a privilege to be part of this incredible band that has taken the world by storm"
Kenny McGoff
As a key songwriter of Sleep Token, II has been a driving force behind the band’s rhythmic architecture. His studio work features crafted rhythmic motifs and complex percussive textures, blending elements of modern metal with jazz, electronic and cinematic percussion.
The British band have earned multiple Grammy nominations, including for Emergence and Caramel at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards.
"Sleep Token are not only an extraordinary band – they are reshaping the sound, feel, and emotional impact of music today,” said Melissa Emert-Hutner, Kobalt’s SVP, creative. “Their live performances are truly immersive experiences, and their albums are beautiful bodies of work that continue to push creative boundaries.
“Working alongside Ryan Richards throughout this journey has been an exciting privilege, and being part of the world that II has helped build for Sleep Token is genuinely special. I’m deeply grateful that Kenny, the Kobalt team, and I are on this journey together; there is so much more to come!"
Click here to read our interview with Sleep Token manager Ryan Richards.
PHOTO: Adamross Williams