Jim on Sleep Token: "It's a very very weird marriage of styles, but it really works!" You're 100% on point there, Jim! I'll be awaiting your reaction to the rest of the album. Cheers!
As a fifty year old metal head, I'll admit that my finger ain't quite on the pulse anymore with a lot of current rock bands. And I'd only vaguely heard of Sleep Token before a few days ago when my awesome, rock loving (thanks to some awesome Uncle-ing!) niece gave me this album for Christmas. Jim, my reactions were the same as yours, I was blown away after periods of confusion / delight / WTF? It's probably the best album of 2023 imho and I can't wait to see what you make of the rest of it!
I'm quite jealous that you now have so much excellent SleepToken to listen to for the first time. This is the third in a trilogy and your ears deserve to listen to Sundowning and This Place Will Become Your Tomb. TMBTE is even better when you have the first two on board.
The band is actually really only made up of two members: Vessel and II (pronounced 'Two'). Vessel is the singer, and he writes the lyrics and plays all the instruments except for the drums, which are written and performed by II. Vessel is also apparently a coproducer. They're a really special band; glad you're enjoying it! Worship.
What a band this is. Such creativity flowing through every song, which is especially apparent if you listen to their three albums back to back - the last two tracks of this album contain a lot of callbacks to those album.
I’m really late to the party but I just wanted to say these are some seriously high quality reaction videos, I’ve got no clue how I never found your channel earlier.
What I’d give to not only relive my first listening experience with each song but to hear this full album without having heard the singles as they released throughout the year. Thank you for doing this and happy you’re enjoying it!
I've tried a number of times to get into Sleep Token due to their massive popularity. I've never been able to fully get on board, however. I'll try again with you!
For me, this was the album that did it. I liked bits and pieces of the other albums, but it just didn't hit like I feel it should have. On the other hand, while I love this album to death, I will never judge someone for not thinking it's their cup of tea. It's very weird, and I understand that.
I love this band, but I agree with the statement that if you like them you love them, and if you don't like them you hate them. There's very little gray area.
I just saw the headline for this video and I cannot tell you how happy this makes me Jim I am going to watch these videos cover to cover. I love your reactions and I love this band. I cannot wait to see your take on them.
@JimNewstead they have quite a complex lore behind their music according to the band's lore, Vessel, the lead singer / multi-instrumentalist, was visited by a deity known as "Sleep", who told Vessel that he would receive glory and honour if he worshipped Him / Them / Her through offerings of his songs; of course, it's all a cleverly constructed universe of metaphors for (I think) some trauma Vessel has cycled through (and overcome, seemingly, by the end of their first trilogy of albums, of which this is the last; if you go back to the songs "The Night Does Not Belong To God" and "The Offering", which kick off their first album Sundowning, you'll hear the beginnings, to which there's a little surprise on the last song of this album, "Euclid") I wish I could cut this long story short! all of Sleep Token's songs are "offerings" or "tokens" of worship to Sleep, hence the name! a lot of the time when he's addressing a "You", it's Sleep, the deity; as far as what Vessel's "real story" is, there are many theories but I don't like to pry! for me, the spiritual canon story is enough to take meaning from and apply it to my story the WORSHIP thing is just something Sleep Token started doing from their internet Socials like Facebook etc., and the fandom just spread it everywhere!
Man i always love seeing first time reactions to sleep token! This is one of the best ive seen! Truly my favourite band! Their previous albums sundowning and this place will become your tomb, are very polished and just beautiful albums as well! Gotta check them out!!
A delightful reaction since it brings back memories of my own reaction. I haven’t been so excited by a new band in a very long time. Such a refreshing sound and with great melodies, delivered with emotion, intricacies and creativity.
Yay! Glad to see you checking out some Sleep Token! The are insanely talented in every aspect and they just seamlessly blend all genres! I’ve loved all of your Devin Townsend reaction videos! I actually just saw him last night with Animals as Leaders and Dream Theater…what a freaking show! 🤯
The Dreamsonic Tour? They’ll be here in Redmond, WA in exactly a month. My community garden box is right across a two lane park road from the amphitheater, so I hope to be doing work in my garden during the show.
Yo just to say, it actually does have the title on the record. It's written in glyphs below the art. They write vertically downwards, left to right. First word (4 symbols below each other) is take, then me, etc etc. Hence why the runes are a pillar of 4, then 2, then 4, then 2, then 4 again. Sleep Token write quite a lot of things in their glyphs rather than English.
Sleep Token are the best band I have ever come across and the recent album is definitely my AOTY! You should go down the rabbit hole now. They’re genre bending and use elements of everything from rock, metal, RnB, trap, hip hop, gospel, and more. Even if you don’t like one song don’t write them off as every song is different and as you can see from this one they switch up completely through the songs, also don’t be thrown off by some of them being 7-8 minutes long either as it goes by far too quickly. You should start at the beginning and work your way through as they tell a story and have call backs to a lot of them. The band are anonymous, I and others know who they are but won’t reveal out of respect to the band and fans but the singer goes by the moniker Vessel, drummer, who is a beast is II, bassist III and guitarist IV. From London UK. As far as their discography goes they brought out two EPs called One and Two, then 2 singles called Jaws and The Way That You Were, then the three albums Sundowning, The Place Will Become Your Tomb, then TMBTE (Take Me Back To Eden). They’ve done five covers that I’m aware of. One being Hey Ya by OutKast, I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston, Is It Really You? By Loathe and When The Party’s Over by Billie Eilish, Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. His Vocal range I believe is B ♭2 to F#5 and he has a wonderful chest voice, head voice and scream. I have never hyper fixated on a band like I have with these! Loved the react and Will subscribe and hopefully see many more. 🖤
are there such coincidences? never heard of it until yesterday and saw them live in Berlin last night .. Sleep token opens for Slipknot. We are in Berlin because of the Marillion gigs this weekend
Ha! I saw Slipknot a couple of weeks ago at Download. The world is full of coincidences, especially where we are focused on a quite narrow spectrum of music!
@@JimNewstead the community made a alphabet, witch each single art the runes were there so people connected the dots and we got most of the alphabet letters!
As usual I have never heard of them 😇 Ha, you already liked my reaction but I wasn’t ready yet😅. I’m always typing while listening to the music. Is it metal? I would put them in the post-rock genre with bands like Lost in Kiev, Elephant tree and Crippled black phoenix. I like it very much too apart from the growling. But that was very short.
I’m reading the comments before giving a listen. Most are making me quite wary. But if they’re similar to Crippled Black Phoenix, I might try powering through.
I really dig this project. The other day my wife was cooking dinner and put on Taylor swift. I suddenly realized that sleep token is using nearly the same formula as Taylor swift. The difference being. Male vocals, Some low tuned guitars and minor melancholy dark twists. And killer drumming. But otherwise it’s eerily similar. All of that said I really love this band.
I really do like this album but it was released the same day as the ocean's new album and that stole the show for me. I totally think you should get that album (holocene) as it's very different has a lot of influences from massive attack this time and I know your fans hate the screaming well out of the 8 tracks there's only a little bit of screaming over layered on the singing at the end of track 4, 6 7 and 8 but it's very minimal. I defo think it would be more up your street than previous albums.
This is one where the singer's voice is a big hurtle. Whether it is or not, it sounds "forced" to me and I just can't enjoy it as a whole despite the rest of it being pretty good. Since you are doing some kind of surprising newer releases, you have to do Avenged Sevenfold's new album! I am an older fan despite them not neatly fitting into Prog metal, but it is absolutely brilliant and has got to at least be in the talks of prog metal album of the year with Haken and Riverside.
ST are better than alll the bands you mentioned. All instrumentss are played by Vessel apart from drums thats done by II. Music and lyrics also by Vessel. They have been around since 2016. Ill tell you more as we go along. Apart from that you have started with the last album of a trilogy.
I went from pretty much only listening to the new Haken album for 3 months to giving this a listen and I only lasted three songs. I just found it so boring. They have these overly long slow sections where you are waiting for something to happen then a metal section kicks in which just sounds really generic and uninventive. I don't get the hype but each to their own.
I actually felt that way too at first. Though not particularly a fan of Haken, I can relate in general. Sleep Token is certainly not the most obviously technical music, but I'd highly recommend you give it a few critical spins all the way through. It's more about the vibe than technical prowess. At first blush, the vocals are a bit tryhard. But listen to his subtleties and control to see that it's truly top tier in terms of expressiveness and range. The drums are a prime example of less is more, and a showcase on restraint. The heavy sections aren't always the most original sound, but they really manage to boil each composition down to its simplest climax. They really are more than the sum of their parts.
If you don't dig it, fine. But why do you think you need to tell the world that the things others enjoy is shit without being asked, or even just offering a valid critique?
@@GrizzlyAt0ms because everyone must be as miserable. That's why they go out of their way to make empty comments as if anyone cares if they like it or not. I'm all for an actual critique of why someone doesn't like sleep token (I mean, we all like to listen to people being wrong, amirite?) but just saying they're shit is pointless, like you said
The other day I sang Rain When I Die from Alice In Chains calling it one of the nastiest sounding songs ever. This 1st song approaches that type of nasty attitude. Good shit Lim.
"Achingly Modern" That's perfect in ways you didn't even know
Jim on Sleep Token: "It's a very very weird marriage of styles, but it really works!" You're 100% on point there, Jim! I'll be awaiting your reaction to the rest of the album. Cheers!
As a fifty year old metal head, I'll admit that my finger ain't quite on the pulse anymore with a lot of current rock bands. And I'd only vaguely heard of Sleep Token before a few days ago when my awesome, rock loving (thanks to some awesome Uncle-ing!) niece gave me this album for Christmas. Jim, my reactions were the same as yours, I was blown away after periods of confusion / delight / WTF? It's probably the best album of 2023 imho and I can't wait to see what you make of the rest of it!
I loved this record, but I’m afraid the front end was better than the back for me. His voice got a bit too “samey”. Very cool though!
I'm quite jealous that you now have so much excellent SleepToken to listen to for the first time. This is the third in a trilogy and your ears deserve to listen to Sundowning and This Place Will Become Your Tomb. TMBTE is even better when you have the first two on board.
Yeeeees, I was waiting for you to get to this. ST are amazing.
Music journalists: "What genre are you?"
Sleep Token: "Yes."
The band is actually really only made up of two members: Vessel and II (pronounced 'Two'). Vessel is the singer, and he writes the lyrics and plays all the instruments except for the drums, which are written and performed by II. Vessel is also apparently a coproducer.
They're a really special band; glad you're enjoying it! Worship.
Maybe it's Daft Punk reinvented!
@@JimNewstead III (Bass) and IV (Guitar) are live members of the band
What a band this is. Such creativity flowing through every song, which is especially apparent if you listen to their three albums back to back - the last two tracks of this album contain a lot of callbacks to those album.
I’m really late to the party but I just wanted to say these are some seriously high quality reaction videos, I’ve got no clue how I never found your channel earlier.
Well thank you so much!
Wow!! 🤘👏🤘
WORSHIP
So.... why worship? I've seen it pop up several times in relation to these vids.
The lore of the band is that they worship the deity, Sleep. These aren't love songs, per se - they're praise and worship songs.
I really like this format. And I also like a reactor that knows what he is talking about.
Well thank you! Lovely to have you here - stick around and see what else you might like!
Thank you for doing this, Jim! I love your reactions and was hoping to see you react to this album!
What I’d give to not only relive my first listening experience with each song but to hear this full album without having heard the singles as they released throughout the year.
Thank you for doing this and happy you’re enjoying it!
I'm happy to be here from Colombia hearing this masterpiece on LP
Side 1 sounded awesome. An eclectic mix of genres. And it all works. Heavy and the mellow. And all points in between!
I've tried a number of times to get into Sleep Token due to their massive popularity. I've never been able to fully get on board, however.
I'll try again with you!
For me, this was the album that did it. I liked bits and pieces of the other albums, but it just didn't hit like I feel it should have. On the other hand, while I love this album to death, I will never judge someone for not thinking it's their cup of tea. It's very weird, and I understand that.
I hope you find something to like 😬
I love this band, but I agree with the statement that if you like them you love them, and if you don't like them you hate them. There's very little gray area.
Wow quick
It's wild to hear the "depth" difference from vinyl, love it
If I had a record player this would be the first record I would purchase
I'm not a fan of this band... but I'm glad you are doing a lot of different bands/styles. Cheers, Jim!
I fucking love sleep token, I’ve been listening to the album on repeat for weeks
I just saw the headline for this video and I cannot tell you how happy this makes me Jim I am going to watch these videos cover to cover. I love your reactions and I love this band. I cannot wait to see your take on them.
Have fun!
Such a slapper!!! Next reaction - Nick Thurl end up dead 😍
At last Jim.. What a band.. And what an album
Enjoy the journey!
worship!
So.... why worship? I've seen it pop up several times in relation to these vids.
@JimNewstead they have quite a complex lore behind their music
according to the band's lore, Vessel, the lead singer / multi-instrumentalist, was visited by a deity known as "Sleep", who told Vessel that he would receive glory and honour if he worshipped Him / Them / Her through offerings of his songs; of course, it's all a cleverly constructed universe of metaphors for (I think) some trauma Vessel has cycled through (and overcome, seemingly, by the end of their first trilogy of albums, of which this is the last; if you go back to the songs "The Night Does Not Belong To God" and "The Offering", which kick off their first album Sundowning, you'll hear the beginnings, to which there's a little surprise on the last song of this album, "Euclid")
I wish I could cut this long story short! all of Sleep Token's songs are "offerings" or "tokens" of worship to Sleep, hence the name! a lot of the time when he's addressing a "You", it's Sleep, the deity; as far as what Vessel's "real story" is, there are many theories but I don't like to pry! for me, the spiritual canon story is enough to take meaning from and apply it to my story
the WORSHIP thing is just something Sleep Token started doing from their internet Socials like Facebook etc., and the fandom just spread it everywhere!
Man i always love seeing first time reactions to sleep token! This is one of the best ive seen! Truly my favourite band! Their previous albums sundowning and this place will become your tomb, are very polished and just beautiful albums as well! Gotta check them out!!
A delightful reaction since it brings back memories of my own reaction. I haven’t been so excited by a new band in a very long time. Such a refreshing sound and with great melodies, delivered with emotion, intricacies and creativity.
The are great
I've been a fan of them since day one, and they continue to blow me away 😍 Btw seriously you need to reacto to end up dead by Nick Thurl
You mentioned Leprous, my other favorite band! Excellent!
Love Leprous so much!
Exited to hear Jim’s perspective. Found Sleep Token when this album dropped and I’ve been hooked. 🍿🥤
I'm addicted to their music. It's like a sonic drug 😍 Next reaction - Nick Thurl end up dead 😍
Let's go! Thanks for the reaction. Can't wait to see more of what you think.
More to come!
Hey Jim , long time no see!! I just discovered this band a few weeks ago and I can’t stop listening to this album
Hello John! I've been here, where were you? :)
@@JimNewstead I guess the algorithm wasn’t being very kind
8:16 and yet I believe the record is a critique about our modern situation.
Still.... the sound/production is completely and utterly 2023.
@@JimNewstead it’s really beautiful and I think this is a theme of the record. This being captured by our desires. It was no accident. …
Yay! Glad to see you checking out some Sleep Token! The are insanely talented in every aspect and they just seamlessly blend all genres! I’ve loved all of your Devin Townsend reaction videos! I actually just saw him last night with Animals as Leaders and Dream Theater…what a freaking show! 🤯
The Dreamsonic Tour? They’ll be here in Redmond, WA in exactly a month. My community garden box is right across a two lane park road from the amphitheater, so I hope to be doing work in my garden during the show.
@@IllumeEltanin yep! It was amazing!
Yo just to say, it actually does have the title on the record. It's written in glyphs below the art. They write vertically downwards, left to right. First word (4 symbols below each other) is take, then me, etc etc. Hence why the runes are a pillar of 4, then 2, then 4, then 2, then 4 again. Sleep Token write quite a lot of things in their glyphs rather than English.
Ha would you believe it... i never mentioned this but Sleep token is my absolute favorite Band recently. Just crazy how versatile they are
Sleep Token are the best band I have ever come across and the recent album is definitely my AOTY! You should go down the rabbit hole now. They’re genre bending and use elements of everything from rock, metal, RnB, trap, hip hop, gospel, and more. Even if you don’t like one song don’t write them off as every song is different and as you can see from this one they switch up completely through the songs, also don’t be thrown off by some of them being 7-8 minutes long either as it goes by far too quickly. You should start at the beginning and work your way through as they tell a story and have call backs to a lot of them. The band are anonymous, I and others know who they are but won’t reveal out of respect to the band and fans but the singer goes by the moniker Vessel, drummer, who is a beast is II, bassist III and guitarist IV. From London UK. As far as their discography goes they brought out two EPs called One and Two, then 2 singles called Jaws and The Way That You Were, then the three albums Sundowning, The Place Will Become Your Tomb, then TMBTE (Take Me Back To Eden). They’ve done five covers that I’m aware of. One being Hey Ya by OutKast, I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston, Is It Really You? By Loathe and When The Party’s Over by Billie Eilish, Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. His Vocal range I believe is B ♭2 to F#5 and he has a wonderful chest voice, head voice and scream. I have never hyper fixated on a band like I have with these! Loved the react and Will subscribe and hopefully see many more. 🖤
Hello from chilly Connecticut
Brrr! Hello! It's boiling here :)
are there such coincidences? never heard of it until yesterday and saw them live in Berlin last night ..
Sleep token opens for Slipknot.
We are in Berlin because of the Marillion gigs this weekend
Ha! I saw Slipknot a couple of weeks ago at Download. The world is full of coincidences, especially where we are focused on a quite narrow spectrum of music!
Fun fact: the runes in the album cover say "Take Me Back To Eden"
They created the runes themselves
They could mean anything then!
@@JimNewstead the community made a alphabet, witch each single art the runes were there so people connected the dots and we got most of the alphabet letters!
Shades of Leprous, but also Katatonia....I know you'll like Katatonia when you get to them.
Hmmm.... you're right sir, they've been a long time coming!
@@JimNewstead Oh yeah, I'll second that one, mate. Start with The Great Cold Distance or The Fall of Hearts. I can't see how you wouldn't be hooked.
I will be buying you a coffee
Thank you kind sir! I do like a coffee :)
@@JimNewstead thank you coffee sent ☕️
As usual I have never heard of them 😇
Ha, you already liked my reaction but I wasn’t ready yet😅. I’m always typing while listening to the music.
Is it metal? I would put them in the post-rock genre with bands like Lost in Kiev, Elephant tree and Crippled black phoenix.
I like it very much too apart from the growling. But that was very short.
Hahaha, no, not as usual! You are "usually" very well informed about music!
@@JimNewsteadthank you but you keep bombarding me with bands I don’t know😂
I’m reading the comments before giving a listen. Most are making me quite wary. But if they’re similar to Crippled Black Phoenix, I might try powering through.
@@IllumeEltanin same genre but not similar.
I really dig this project. The other day my wife was cooking dinner and put on Taylor swift. I suddenly realized that sleep token is using nearly the same formula as Taylor swift. The difference being. Male vocals, Some low tuned guitars and minor melancholy dark twists. And killer drumming. But otherwise it’s eerily similar. All of that said I really love this band.
Sounds like a male Evanesance.
I really do like this album but it was released the same day as the ocean's new album and that stole the show for me. I totally think you should get that album (holocene) as it's very different has a lot of influences from massive attack this time and I know your fans hate the screaming well out of the 8 tracks there's only a little bit of screaming over layered on the singing at the end of track 4, 6 7 and 8 but it's very minimal. I defo think it would be more up your street than previous albums.
This is one where the singer's voice is a big hurtle. Whether it is or not, it sounds "forced" to me and I just can't enjoy it as a whole despite the rest of it being pretty good.
Since you are doing some kind of surprising newer releases, you have to do Avenged Sevenfold's new album! I am an older fan despite them not neatly fitting into Prog metal, but it is absolutely brilliant and has got to at least be in the talks of prog metal album of the year with Haken and Riverside.
ST are better than alll the bands you mentioned. All instrumentss are played by Vessel apart from drums thats done by II. Music and lyrics also by Vessel. They have been around since 2016. Ill tell you more as we go along. Apart from that you have started with the last album of a trilogy.
I went from pretty much only listening to the new Haken album for 3 months to giving this a listen and I only lasted three songs. I just found it so boring. They have these overly long slow sections where you are waiting for something to happen then a metal section kicks in which just sounds really generic and uninventive. I don't get the hype but each to their own.
I actually felt that way too at first. Though not particularly a fan of Haken, I can relate in general. Sleep Token is certainly not the most obviously technical music, but I'd highly recommend you give it a few critical spins all the way through. It's more about the vibe than technical prowess.
At first blush, the vocals are a bit tryhard. But listen to his subtleties and control to see that it's truly top tier in terms of expressiveness and range. The drums are a prime example of less is more, and a showcase on restraint. The heavy sections aren't always the most original sound, but they really manage to boil each composition down to its simplest climax.
They really are more than the sum of their parts.
Poor guy. I feel sorry for you having to review this drivel
If you don't dig it, fine. But why do you think you need to tell the world that the things others enjoy is shit without being asked, or even just offering a valid critique?
This is my first hearing of ST and I think it’s ok, don’t agree with you entirely but happy you’re giving an honest comment, good for you 😎
@@GrizzlyAt0ms because everyone must be as miserable. That's why they go out of their way to make empty comments as if anyone cares if they like it or not.
I'm all for an actual critique of why someone doesn't like sleep token (I mean, we all like to listen to people being wrong, amirite?) but just saying they're shit is pointless, like you said
The other day I sang Rain When I Die from Alice In Chains calling it one of the nastiest sounding songs ever. This 1st song approaches that type of nasty attitude. Good shit Lim.