Take Me Back To Eden: A Review
A Review of Sleep Token's newest album.
Sleep Token has been one of the more surprising stories of 2023- a relatively unknown band explodes onto the scene to a point where they’re suddenly selling out Wembley Stadium in 10 minutes. Thanks to tiktok helping tracks from their new album Take Me Back to Eden gain massive popularity, the anonymous British collective is suddenly the talk of the town. Unlike a lot of other bands that have ridden the hype train in recent years, Sleep Token seems to be somewhat divisive, namely in metal circles. You either love that they’ve managed to make an unorthodox sound work or you hate that they kinda sound like Imagine Dragons but more djenty. I’m probably in the former of the two camps with regards to Sleep Token.
And to be honest, I do kinda get some complaints from the anti-Sleep Token camp- they do kinda sound like Imagine Dragons. And to some extent I also kind of feel like it might also just be an issue with musical tastes. Perhaps you find modern pop to be extremely uninspired bullshit so you’re not really a fan of the lighter parts of the albums. Or you’re just someone who listens to even heavier stuff and their stuff just doesn’t work for you. Then sure, I can see why you don’t like it. Of course, if your complaints are “they’re a tiktok band” then you’re just being obtuse. I mostly find myself in the pro-Sleep Token camp mostly because they feel like they’re trying to something different rather than trying to be like everyone else.
A good elevator pitch for Sleep Token might be “Between the Buried and Me for normies”, which might be a good explanation as to why I like them so much. BTBAM draws influence from things that are not metal to create metal and while Sleep Token is metal, the end product feels more like “pop inspired by metal” as opposed to metal. “The Summoning” and “Granite” are great examples of this as it showcases both ends of this spectrum. “The Summoning” comes in with some extremely heavy riffs and breakdowns only to finish out as a “sexy” pop song with R&B-esque vocals. “Granite” feels like it’s a relatively normal pop song only to get heavy later on. Yet they’re really just using the same chord progressions in different ways, being able to use it to provide a catchy beat for a pop song or a heavy, djent fuelled rumble.
Unlike a lot of other progressive metal bands, Sleep Token tends to be more centered around their singing and vocals. While I’m not super acquainted with their stuff there’s some actual lore surrounding the band- Take Me Back To Eden is actually the conclusion of the story started from their debut album. The singer, who is referred to as “Vessel” has an impressive range, being able to nail soulful clean vocals while also being able to throw in heavy screaming in some songs like “Vore”. The lyrics are rather dissonant, out of the context of the story they can kinda feel like relatively uninspired and generic but with the context of the story being told it makes sense. The other members of the band- who are assigned roman numerals are less feature players and more supporting cast members. Yet they’re also essential to the sound, as the band’s genre shifts often feel representative of the emotion that Vessel is conveying with his singing.
Regardless of what you think of them, it’s pretty hard to deny that Sleep Token are legit. It’s hard for a lot of artists to be able to appeal to a lot of different people and Sleep Token manages to do that, even if their stuff manages to piss off certain circles. I don’t think Sleep Token is going to convince metalheads to start listening to more pop, which isn’t exactly the big takeaway here. But maybe Sleep Token can convince people who don’t listen to metal to go out of their way and listen to listen to more metal that’s a good thing.
Rating: 6 Anonymous Cultists out of 7