SLEEP TOKEN - THIS PLACE WILL BECOME YOUR TOMB
Sleep Token is something of an enigma. Anonymous, masked and mysterious, their sound is as hard to pin down as it is magnetic. This Place Will Become Your Tomb never fails to fully immerses the listener in their signature sound.
Sleep Token is something of an enigma. Anonymous, masked and mysterious, their sound is as hard to pin down as it is magnetic. Combining hints of electronica, progressive metal and alternative pop, Sleep Token, the vision of frontman Vessel, produces dramatic, sweeping soundscapes accompanied by dark and beautiful music videos.
Released on September 24th, This Place Will Become Your Tomb is a twelve track record that truly shows off the breadth of the band’s range and never fails to fully immerses the listener in their signature sound.
Opening gently with ‘Atlantic’, Vessel instantly captures the attention, with his pure, crisp falsetto and emotive vocals. The piano eventually gives away to heavier synth sounds and bass, building up the drama until an explosion of heavy guitar and drums shows us just what this album is really about.
Whilst the first five tracks follow a similar theme and soundscape, ‘Fall For Me’ which sits snuggly in the middle of the album, bears resemblance to Imogen Heap’s ‘Hide and Seek’ with unaccompanied vocals run through a vocoder to create a dreamy ambience and a nice break from the heaviness of the previous tracks.
Another stand out track on the album is ‘Telomeres’, piano driven, and evocative of smoky bars and rainy nights, and vocals akin to Panic at the Disco’s Brendon Urie, the heavier choruses and driving drum beat doesn’t let you forget Sleep Token’s metal sensibilities, despite the crooning strains of the verses.
The final track on the album, ‘Missing Limbs’ is a complete departure from the heaviness of rest of the album. A guitar and piano led track that really allows Vessel’s incredible vocals shine, ‘Missing Limbs’ closes the album in a completely unexpected way. A winding down, a release of the pent up emotion and held breath of the other eleven tracks, a track that gently shines in the darkness and leaves the listener with more questions than answers about exactly who, or what, Sleep Token really is. But perhaps leaving these questions unanswered is what makes This Place Will Become Your Tomb so beautiful.
This album is fascinating, drawing parallels to so many musicians and styles that have come before, yet somehow still impossible to compare. Paired with the dramatic visual accompaniments, Sleep Token have carved an interesting a winding path through the metal genre and across many more.
Sleep Token’s music and visuals create a magical, mysterious and dark landscape that lies somewhere between fantasy and nightmare. A world that you can’t help to be drawn into, that mesmerises and disturbs in equal measure. This Place Will Become Your Tomb is a powerful an introspective album that will appeal to listeners and lovers of all genres.
Jess Distill
★★★★☆