Review Summary: R&D: Rhythm & Djent
Sometimes an album comes along that captivates the mind, the body, the soul, to a point where going one day without listening seems like a sacrilegious act, a dereliction of duty on the part of the music lover. While this is likely an extreme way of explaining just how much the new Sleep Token album
Take Me Back to Eden has impacted my music listening of late, it’s certainly gotten the point across: the album is excellent and needs to undergo repeated listens to truly appreciate the craft.
Sadly, the hype machine on this new record was so mammoth that, by default, some listeners likely balked at it immediately and never came back. Guilty, I’ve done this, everyone has done this. Plus, take the fact that the band released almost half of the album as singles, then there didn’t seem to be much left over to actually listen to. But for those of us that stuck around, listened once, listened twice, kept listening,
Take Me Back to Eden has proven to be a mainstay, an amalgamation of pop, R&B, metal, so interesting, so captivating, so fun, that it will likely end up in many an ‘end of year’ list for 2023.
Those listeners referring to this band while also mentioning the band Deftones aren’t terribly far off: the djenty riffs and breakdowns that follow clean vocal passages and trips down piano laden paths, synth driven moments, definitely harken back to the Deftones, but there’s so many differences in sound that any listener will not suddenly wonder if they’re actually listening to Deftones. First off, lead vocalist Vessel sounds nothing like Chino, and this listener would argue that he’s better: the high notes, the crooning, the slight accent (given the London base) and even those moments where you can tell that Vessel’s entire mouth is just full of notes, the singing on this record should not be scoffed at, as it’s the strong point, Vessel being front and center on nearly every track, even as listeners wait for the breakdown.
Songs like
The Summoning and
Vore kick listeners in the teeth, the latter opening with feedback laden guitars, double bass, and screaming from Vessel, while the former hits with downtuned, fat riffs, very much of the ‘djent’ variety at the opening, before segueing into some clean singing. About a minute and a half in, Vessel unleashes a demonic shriek while the guitars and drums perform in double time, creating an overwhelming sense of being beaten down.
When approaching songs such as
Are You Really Okay? and
DYWTYLM, listeners need to set aside their heavy minded nature and just enjoy the top 100 pop vibes, the former an eye opening look into depression and attempted suicide from the point of view of a loved one, the latter a full on pop single that tries to do nothing beyond sound like a radio hit. There’s no impressive soundscape to navigate through, no roller coaster of emotions, just a straight forward pop track that is really only saved by Vessel’s vocals, as the rest is somewhat of a meandering mess of beats and cringe-worthy lyricism. Yet, it’s not bad, it’s just different.
It’s where songs feature an amalgamation of everything that Sleep Token shines:
Ascenionism and the title track each break the 7 minute mark, and feature a roller coaster of emotions and sonic landscapes, transitioning from pop to R&B to metal throughout the life of the track, sometimes abruptly shifting listeners out of their comfort zone before plopping them right back in. It’s nothing fancy, sometimes the transitions are even jarring, but Sleep Token manages to make it feel so natural, so organic, that even getting shifted over to a different musical genre isn’t enough to scare away even the most jaded and narrow minded music listener. If anything, the risk taking is enough to warrant multiple listens, whereby a listener begins to look forward to the mammoth shifts in sound, hearing Vessel rap before breaking down into an earth rumbling...breakdown.
Adding to the layering of the musicianship and the mindset that the entire kitchen sink was thrown into this one, piano is the focal point of tracks
Aqua Regia and closer
Euclid, even the initial few minutes of the aforementioned
Ascenionism, introducing an even separate element into the fold,
Euclid sounding early on as though it could feature an Elton John guest spot, a bit more upbeat but still maintaining a level of despondency, a bit like the dark before the dawn, while the former utilizes it to paint a bleak and somber landscape.
The fact is, this album will not wow everybody; as a matter of fact, there are a lot of detractors out there that don’t understand the hype. There’s nothing overtly technical about the music, Vessel isn’t the greatest vocalist we’ve ever heard or the most profound lyricist, and sometimes the mishmash of genres seems forced. But for this listener, this album has proven to have a sort of magical staying power, dabbling in genres that ordinarily wouldn’t cross my wavelengths and somehow making them the most interesting thing in my day. I didn’t buy into the hype machine; Sleep Token roped me in with an excellent album, different from most things I’ll listen to in a given day, an album that has me coming back for more just because over the course of an hour plus, I’m going to go for a ride on an emotional and musical roller coaster.
