Let’s hop into the time machine, shall we? Set the dial to 2018: Sleep Token are a weird, masked, anonymous cult based in London, whose songs are characterised by the press as ‘Bon Iver meets Meshuggah’ and whose lyrics are ostensibly dedicated to a god that they made up. Travel back and start telling people that that lot will be metal’s biggest thing within a decade. No one, probably not even the band, would believe you.
However, that’s exactly what happened, and it’s because of 2023 single The Summoning that the inconceivable became reality. Equal parts heavy metal, funk, prog and erotica, its sensual ending and lusting lyricism found an audience outside of djent aficionados. Social media was aroused, then curious, then hooked on the rest of Sleep Token’s material: a chain reaction that lifted the band to arena headline status before the year was over.
