Sleep Token – Take Me Back To Eden
The final part of a trilogy of albums by masked London collective Sleep Token is an hour-long genre odyssey of epic proportions
Sleep Token are a band as shrouded in mystery as they are in clamour. Being completely anonymous, masked and costumed, ambiguity comes with the territory, but their daringly expansive and strangely emotive discography is equally as indefinable and elusive as the collective themselves.
If you’re expecting a 12-track demonstration of pure, blistering heaviness, you’re in the wrong place. Homer’s Odyssey couldn’t help but envy the colossal journey this album takes, through a plethora of entangled soundscapes – and often all in the space of some commendably fluid, seven-plus minute tracks. From hellishly heavy djent-metal transcending into oddly delightful, wah-wah-indulging jazz (The Summoning), underground electronica snapping into gnarly riffage (Granite), and spacious, ethereal synths collapsing into clean-cut gravelly vocals and echoing guitars (Aqua Regia).
This is a record of surprises, often when conventional sounds enter in the form of rock ballads (Are You Really Okay?), fit-for-radio, lo-fi synth-pop (DYWTYLM), or even brief moments of trap/R'n'B percussion that precede more chugging, guttural guitars (The Apparition, Take Me Back To Eden). And while not every moment works as seamlessly as others and some track lengths can feel slightly daunting, the triumphs far outway the tribulations on this enthralling, emotional trilogy conclusion.
Listen to: The Summoning, Vore, Euclid