Sleep token first time listen and review: Do they deserve the hate?

There's few bands more divisive in the metal/rock community right now than Sleep Token. As an avid reader of R/Metalforthemasses there are three names that have a 50/50 chance of getting you doxxed. those being Five Finger death punch(Fair enough), Ghost and Sleep token.

Just going off of their appearance alone, you could reasonably think that Sleep Token was an underground hardcore black metal band from Norway that you almost feel dirty for listening to, in fact though, from what I heard? most people say they're "radio metal" or "Poser metal" my favorite was "Metal to be played in a Walmart"

I've never listened to Sleep Token prior to this review, all I knew was that people either cursed them and everything they stood for, or had their logo on every article of clothing they owned. no in-between.

So as I was listening to some music on one of my daily walks I thought to myself, "Do they deserve the hate? or is it just metal purists getting their panties in a twist?" I set out to answer this question for myself.

I decided to listen to the album that is largely credited with making Sleep Token a mainstream name, that being 2023's "take me back to Eden." 

When I first saw this album I was honestly optimistic, The symbol and tentacles descending from the moon evoke a type of Lovecraftian cosmic horror for me and almost reminds me of the cover of Gojira's "from Mars to Sirius" 

But an albums cover is just the hook. What about the music itself? 

The album started off with Chokehold, which started off dark and ominous and I was fully expecting some hard riffs but then I was greeted with an R&B track, the singer, Vessel? his voice is Almost pop star smooth and deep which I did not expect and honestly it was not my cup of tea.

Starting off with the songs I did take a liking to, The summoning started off almost like an emo rock song and towards the end it changes and becomes almost funky like something Jimi hendrix or Sleep would make. Euclid was also pretty decent, Vore however I consider the highlight of the entire album. It's a pretty good song and really shows off how talented of a vocalist Vessel is, he goes from these deep and melancholy smooth vocals to these true death metal growls that I admire. Buuuut it was all downhill from here.

The rest of the songs I would say were just- not metal. like at all. Some more than others, DYWTYLM (Do You Wish That You Loved Me) is just a pop track, almost ed sheeran esque and it isn't BAD but considering Sleep Tokens cultish image this is not something I would expect. Then ascensionism, are you really okay, rain, etc. they all seem like Taylor swift, Billie Eilish, or name an R&B artist dipping their toes into metal and not wanting to fully commit to it and just throwing a breakdown halfway in and calling the song metal.
 
I can't speak for ALL of their albums, maybe the later or earlier ones are harder, but I can confidently say that TMBTE is more like R&B with a single metal track thrown in and I was really disappointed because their look is so hardcore I really WANTED to love them.

but would I say the album is BAD, no. The album is very well produced and vessel is clearly talented along with the rest of the band, It just isn't metal really.

and do I think Sleep Token themselves is a bad band? also no. I wouldn't call a band outright bad unless they are only in it for the money, don't care about the music, or are trying to promote some bigoted agenda. and I wouldn't at all say those apply to Sleep Token. They put in just too much effort into the production and their look to be only in it for making top ranking tracks.

And I would even go as far as to say that, Sleep Token having those little bits metal in their otherwise radio friendly tracks could serve as a good stepping stone to making someone a true metalhead.

As for their animosity from metal purists, bands like Sleep Token tend to attract a lot of newbie metalheads that insist upon their band when they haven't touched bands like Opeth or acid bath which for people deeper in the scene can be truly infuriating, but I would say that for people who are just committed to demonizing bands like ST or Ghost or whatever it's less about posers or people not being exposed to frankly better bands and is more about them going "Nooo my special boy metalhead status" Like they must have nothing better to do in their life if they're so committed to demonizing a group of people making music, it's like in the early 2000s when everyone was making death threats to Justin Bieber when he was just a kid.

anyway, for me? I leave Sleep Token with indifference. For anyone else? I say give them a try and form your own opinion.