Album Review: Sleep Token - 'This Place Will Become Your Tomb'
The enigmatic and entrancing Sleep Token’s sophomore offering ‘This Place Will Become Your Tomb’ is nothing short of staggering. Beautiful melodies lay entwined with destructive bursts of heaviness that leave you breathless; meanwhile, an album that consistently delves into new territories, perfectly threading the needle between exploration/growth and the retention of what made Sundowning so brilliant, reflects a band that are underground no longer.
Sleep Token are a mystery. Spawned from the head of the anonymous Vessel, like a creation of the Eldritch Gods of old, Sleep Token has gathered a cult-like following, and with good reason. When first emerging onto the scene a few years ago, they proclaimed themselves to be the mortal representatives of the age-old deity known only as “Sleep”, and the early releases of tracks with names such as Nazareth, Jericho and Fields of Elation only heightened their ethereal, other-worldly mystique; and, as tracks from their debut album began to drop at the height of the Summer Solstice and thereafter at the moment of sundown (according to GMT), the intrigue and fascination only grew. Even the live appearances of the collective only served to raise more questions. With their hauntingly occult symbol emblazoned on the masks that they wear on stage beneath their shadowy cloaks, the hypnotic figures are nothing short of captivating when they perform live — and in this case, any time the group take the stage it truly is a performance.
Therefore, one could be forgiven for assuming that their music is as heavy as their appearance would suggest; in some instances, you’d even be correct, such as with the revered Gods. Yet, for the most part, Sleep Token’s releases are beautiful, their live shows mesmerisingly delicate.
This Place Will Become Your Tomb is a step above.
For a band known for their brilliantly heavy instrumentals as much as they are their lead vocalist’s tremendous vocals, opening with a piano ballad could be considered a rogue choice. But my God is it the right one. Atlantic, the opener, is a beautiful piano-led ballad which manages to perfectly encapsulate what’s to come; gentle phantasms that build to a breaking point, resplendent with synths and strings. The whole track has a deeply cinematic feel. Coupled, then, with second track Hypnosis — a dark and gritty affair dripping with malaise, promising depravity and catharsis in equal measures as it builds to a screamed crescendo and jarringly discordant outro — Atlantic serves as a reminder of just what made Sundowning so brilliant, as if simply an ascension of the usual styles.
And then the primarily electronics based Mine kicks in, as the albums begins to twirl and evolve before your very eyes. Well, ears.
At this point, as the album begins to set itself up as one of contrasts, it’s beauty becomes more apparent. The tracks themselves seem to almost be in pairs; couplets, reflecting the light and the darkness, an auditory harmonic balance. The brooding Like That follows the confidently optimistic Mine; meanwhile, the wondrous Fall For Me, with its heavenly blend of layered vocals offering a moment of respite in the maelstrom of finely tuned chaos, is followed by the immersively oppressive Alkaline.
Yet, for all the moments of brutality in the album — particularly the afore-mentioned Hypnosis, a personal favourite — it’s in the moments of introspection and contemplation that the band truly shine. Closer Missing Limbs, for instance, sees Vessel at his most serene, vocals floating into the ether over an acoustic guitar and a scattering of ivory. Yet, as the album goes, it serves more as an entrement than a crowning glory of a song.
Enter Telomeres.
Named after the part of our DNA that affects how our cells age (and thus we expire), the track’s title seems particularly poignant for such a cognizant And mortality-conscious band. As a stand-alone track, it’s simply stunning. Near-sighed vocals enter over the soft twinkle of piano, as if in a dream, before distinctly Deftones-esque guitar breaks in to create a vividly ensnaring soundscape. “Let the tide carry you back to me”, Vessel cries over a swelling soundtrack, an inescapable and irresistible demand — they might as well have professed to be inevitable. Moments of pounding drums act as orchestral accompaniment to the resounding number upon which you can’t help but be enraptured, tossed about by each new moment of wonder.
But, as part of the album, Telomeres serves as a bridge between the old and the new, the soft and the rough. It all intermingles in a song so finely crafted that the amazement is palpable, as Vessel’s vocals hit vicious instrumentals, and they combine with a healthy dose of growth and experimentations.
We go beyond the furthest reaches”, Vessel tells us; I’m just glad that we are privileged enough to come along for the ride.
Words by James O’Sullivan
Sleep Token November 2021 headline tour dates:
12th - Foundry, Torquay
13th - Institute, Birmingham
14th - SWG3, Glasgow
15th - Leadmill, Sheffield
17th - Academy, Dublin
18th - Academy 2, Manchester
19th - Y Plas, Cardiff
20th - Shepherds Bush Empire, London