Sleep Token are metal’s most promising breakout band but they end their best year yet in near disaster. Released back in May, sprawling third album Take Me Back to Eden elevated the mysterious group from beloved cult act to something far bigger. Tonight’s gig sold out in a matter of minutes, with the same happening across North America and Europe. Typically, the four masked members of Sleep Token never speak while onstage and their identities remain a secret but seven songs into the set, a roadie is brought onstage to explain that powerhouse vocalist Vessel has lost his voice. “You guys need to sing with us,” he says, with the frontman relegated to impassioned hype man.
It’s confused karaoke for the acrobatic The Summoning but the audience soon finds their voice. The rest of the set weaves between thundering instrumental versions of the band’s genre-toying tracks and bellowing singalongs. Luckily their blend of post-rock, shimmering pop and prog is complex enough to keep the room enthralled and while the energy may wobble, it never drops. After finishing the set, Vessel returns to the stage and performs aching piano ballad Bloodsport through audible sobs. In the very few interviews they’ve done, Sleep Token have routinely explained that their individual identities are irrelevant, what matters is the music, and tonight is proof of that.
Still, it’s not the celebration Sleep Token would have hoped for. Rather than gigs, they describe their shows as rituals and tonight is supposed to be the start of a glorious new era. Joined by backing singers and a troupe of dancers, the first 45 minutes are simply phenomenal as Sleep Token outrun their hype. Opener Chokehold is a sugary pop track disguised as a chugging metal anthem, Hypnosis starts as a swaying love song but soon morphs into shuddering brutality and things get experimental with Dark Signs’ glitching trap breakdowns. It would be jarring if it wasn’t done with such conviction. It’s that belief that saves the show tonight as Sleep Token and their audience still throw themselves into every moment, wrestling shared euphoria from the jaws of defeat.
