March 24 | Written By Simon White

Chances are, most music fans have by now heard of Sleep Token. This collective of musicians first graced listeners ears in 2016 with their debut single ‘Thread the Needle’ and have since gone from strength to strength announcing their third album Take Me Back to Eden on February 16th. Collective, as nobody really knows who they are (or indeed how many of them there are). Known only by the monikers Vessel, II, III, and IV, the members of Sleep Token remain anonymous, which furthermore adds to the excitement of their music, live shows, and very existence. Who are these hooded geniuses, and where are they taking us next?

Now signed to Spinefarm Records, their debut album came in the form of Sundowning in 2019. Sundowning is twelve songs of pure musical genius. The lead track from this album ‘The Offering’ has since become their gig closer, and trust, it is hard think of a better way to close any show. It was on this album that Sleep Token really started to experiment with electronic influences, on tracks like ‘Dark Signs’, where they lay down an 808 drum loop during the verses, and ‘Sugar’ with its MIDI-style keyboard melody throughout. Of course, with 2019 being the year of the pandemic, fans would have to wait until album two to see how much of an effect Sundowning had on their popularity. Roll on 2021’s This Place Will Become Your Tomb.

However, as far as the second album curse goes, Sleep Token rode that wave, conquered it, and brushed past it as if it did not exist. Moving into the modern day, this is where it really shows how far Sleep Token have come since 2016.

The band have surprise dropped 5 singles off their upcoming album Take Me Back to Eden, due May 19th 2023. The second of these singles is ‘The Summoning’ has been the most popular. A six-and-a-half-minute masterpiece, composing of the heaviest music they have produced thus far, the most complex, comprising of three separate sections, but also (in my humble opinion), the best music the group have produced. The way the vocals and instruments intertwine throughout is something to marvel at, let alone during the final couple of minutes where the band break it down and make silence their friend. Rest-notes on a drum kit have never sounded so good.It was ‘The Summoning’ that “blew up” on TikTok and caught the attention of the masses, resulting in the track reaching second on the US Billboard Metal charts. This propelled the song to over 14 million listens of Spotify alone in seven weeks, surpassing ‘The Offering’ which has been available for nearly four years.

Each single of their upcoming release has taken little-to-no time to amass a few million listeners, and it is no coincidence that their most refined tracks so far are doing it. Of course, TikTok does a service and disservice to music in the modern day, but popularity cannot be put down to something so simple. The sky is the limit for this British metal band, and fans are all here for it. Going from self-releasing a single in 2016, being signed in 2017, for your debut album to be a success in 2019, fast forward to the modern day where you could be on the cusp of greatness. This does not happen often to metal bands, look how long it took Bring Me The Horizon to gain international fame, and Sleep Token could be well on their way to achieving much of the same in comparatively no time at all!