Year: 2023
Total Time: 63:00
Label: Spinefarm Records
What can you tolerate in Rock/Metal to hear something different and fresh? Electronic music? Indie soundscapes? Dark Pop? RnB? Trap beats? If none of these have caused you discomfort or the urge to flee, then welcome to the dreamy world of SLEEP TOKEN. The band from London started several years ago playing a type of alternative Metal, combining elements from Alternative/Indie Rock with Djent guitars as established by the masters of the genre, MESHUGGAH.
With each album, the Brits began enriching their music with various diverse elements, thereby acquiring a rather diverse musical audience, predominantly from the Rock/Metal scene. While various fans, both supporters and critics, argue online about whether the band is Metal or not, SLEEP TOKEN’s clever marketing and the use of their songs on social media helped them make their big breakthrough with sold-out headlining tours in America, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
With their new album “Take Me Back To Eden”, the band takes their sound a step further, presenting both their most extreme and experimental sides simultaneously. And they do so with tremendous success. Listening to the songs individually, it might seem to someone that the music is a bit of mishmash, but if one takes the time to listen to the album in its entirety, they will see how beautifully all these different influences blend together.
Essentially, we’re talking about a musical journey, from dark Pop and RnB and melancholic piano moments to furious Metal outbursts and 90s Alternative Rock melodies as well as 80s power ballads! A musical storm that perfectly accompanies the lyrics about the tumultuous relationship between the two characters of the mysterious story that began with ‘Sundowning’ in 2019 and concludes with “Take Me Back To Eden”. It’s no coincidence that the final notes of “Euclid”, which closes the album, are the same as those of “The Night Does Not Belong To God”, the first track from their debut.
This musical genre defying blend, combined with the intricate song structures that don’t follow the usual verse-chorus pattern, as well as the varying song lengths ranging from 3 ½ to 8 ½ minutes, are enough, I believe, to answer the question of what exactly SLEEP TOKEN plays. I think there’s no better term than the term Progressive to describe what the enigmatic figure of the lead singer and band leader, Vessel, and his companions are doing.
Although I’m a big fan of “Sundowning”, I believe this new album is their most complete and diverse. Apart from the different genres that SLEEP TOKEN mixes in their music, here we encounter for the first time in their history a more extensive use of extreme vocals, Vessel almost rapping, and a very beautiful guitar solo in “The Summoning”, adding another more layer to the diversity of this album.
In summary, “Take Me Back To Eden” is an exciting journey through a multi-layered musical landscape that constantly keeps you guessing what will follow next. Thus, it offers a rich and captivating experience, with Vessel’s captivating vocals atop the album’s unique compositions, that showcase the band’s evolution and musical prowess. The Londoners show that they have an artistic vision as they continue to weave their mysterious world, making us wonder what else may follow.
Rating: 8,5/10
Editor: Dimitris Benetatos
Related Link: SLEEP TOKEN – Official Page
