I would be lying if I said that I have always been a Sleep Token fan. However, like many other listeners, the band’s Download Festival performance has me taking another dive into their discography with a new perspective. But before taking the stage at Donington Park in Leicestershire, England, many music fans had strong opinions about the announcement of the London rock band headlining.
Back in November, Download revealed a large portion of the bands taking the stages come June. Coming to headline the Apexstage from June 13 through 15 were Green Day, Sleep Token, and Korn.
If you ask anyone adjacent to heavy, rock, metal, or alternative music, you can guarantee they know who the massive names of Green Day and Korn are, despite this being their first time headlining Download. But respective frontmen Billie Joe Armstrong and Jonathan Davis were not the ones facing controversy over this announcement.
Everyone’s favorite middle-aged metal elitists took to their keyboards to question this decision for a seemingly new band to be taking the spot where one of the rock giants should be. Past headliners have included Metallica, Avenged Sevenfold, Slipknot, Iron Maiden, and so many more. But at that time, headliners like Bring Me The Horizon caused an uproar in their headliner announcement, too, and where are Bring Me The Horizon today? They’re headlining world tours and festivals all over the globe.
Many people took to social media to criticize this choice when there were plenty of other deserving names on the bill with the potential to headline. While the rise of Sleep Token was quick, it captivated audiences all over the world who all wanted a piece of the faceless band.
Even while being directly in the limelight, the band members keep their anonymity and protect their identities from public knowledge. With the use of masks on stage, no post-show interviews, and zero talking in between songs, they have executed this mysterious aesthetic flawlessly. The band follows its own lore, similar to the band Ghost, and wears its own custom masks, similar to the band Slipknot, but sounds like a different entity altogether.
Even before the release of their fourth studio album, “Even In Arcadia,” back in May, the band invited fans to their fall U.S. tour, called Rituals. In their cryptic way, the band released a statement saying, “Entrance tickets for the Even In Arcadia North American Rituals have been swiftly depleted.”
In other words, those tickets sold out incredibly fast, a feat that only universally beloved artists can pull off. This undertaking was one of the reasons Andy Copping, the founder of Download, backed his decision to give this talented group such an insane opportunity.
Besides the band’s ability to sell out venues across the country, the melodic choruses and heavy breakdowns make the band stand out. They masterfully combine elements of alternative metal, jazz, hip-hop, djent, and indie rock, with one sound flowing effortlessly into the next.
The lead vocalist, known as Vessel, sings, screams, and raps with his whole soul and leaves his passion on the stage. From flawless drum solos by band member II, to angelic backing vocals by many others, the band was set up for success. To command an audience of an estimated 75,000 at Download, the stage presence must be no less than impressive. Sleep Token followed suit and brought the best show they could with impeccably thorough production, design, lighting, sound, and everything else from the front of house all the way backstage.
The band and the rest of the crew used their two-hour career-defining set to turn heads around the world and seemed to have a blast doing so. It’s never too late to discover new artists for yourself, even if massive festivals found them first.
