I really enjoy Sleep Token. From the moment I discovered the UK masked metal outfit around their 2017 EP Two, I was impressed with their ability to leap from soulful verses to soul-crushingly heavy bludgeonings.
However, as the following behind Vessel and his gang of acolytes only grows and grows, so strengthens a narrative which I can’t let slide: that they are the first band in the history of their genre to do what they do. Truth is, even though Sleep Token are probably the most successful band to do what they do, they – like many others – have progenitors and influences that laid the groundwork for their ascent.
So, below, I’ve sung the praises of nine metal bands who set the stage for these cultists to take over.
Meshuggah
Meshuggah invented a new language of metal. During the Swedes’ 90s and 00s ascent, Tomas Haake raised the bar for technical drumming, tapping out wild rhythms with his feet while his arms offered a headbangable backbeat. At the same time, Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström’s seven- and eight-string riffs pioneered the subgenre of ‘djent’. It’s a style of playing that Sleep Token’s nameless guitarist has used since the band’s debut EP, laying down horrendous heaviness after sensual passages of keys and vocals. This lot wouldn’t exist without Meshuggah – and nor would half the metal artists who’ve blown up over the last 20 years.
Bring Me The Horizon
Sleep Token were already rising stars by the start of 2023, but it was TikTok catching wind of them that sent them supernova. Where they began that year in 5,000-capacity academies, they ended it headlining an arena big enough for 12,500. They weren’t the first metal band that the platform launched to the stratosphere, though. In January 2021, Bring Me The Horizon’s Can You Feel My Heart soundtracked a viral trend and rocketed up the US and UK charts in the aftermath. The following September, the band embarked on their first arena tour, and they’ve stayed at those lofty heights ever since.
Ghost
Ghost are another band whose audience expanded beyond belief via TikTok. In 2022, the app unearthed the b-side Mary On A Cross and made it massive. Tobias Forge’s cult have more than that in common with Sleep Token, though. They weren’t the first masked group in metal, nor the first masked group to have lore, but they were the first masked group with lore that fascinated the mainstream. The gimmick of a masked devil church with a skeleton pope singer simply proved fun to talk about and caught on like cholera. Without a doubt, Vessel was looking on and taking notes.
Deftones
Once The Summoning went viral, many couldn’t get over how horny it was. “My love, did I mistake you for a sign from God? Or are you really here to cast me off? Or maybe just to turn me on?” Vessel asked, loins almost audibly turgid. However, when it comes to randy riffing, the last word is Deftones. For 30 years, frontman Chino Moreno has been wantonly moaning in fans’ ears, gushing alongside a soundtrack of leaden metal and gooey shoegaze. The Californians initially got lumped in with nu metal, but master-strokes White Pony and Diamond Eyes gave them a life well beyond that movement.
Nine Inch Nails
Plenty of people talk about Sleep Token’s mix of prog, metal, pop, indie and so on, but it’d be disingenuous to ignore the electronic pulse that runs through much of their music, new single Emergence very much included. And, when it comes to the collision of the digital and the rocky, the idols for many are Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor’s project were at the crest of the industrial wave in the late 1980s, bridging the gap between sturdy, primal guitar playing and computerised accoutrements. With megahits including Closer and Hurt to their name, they continue to influence countless artists.
Tesseract
Meshuggah may have invented djent, but it was Tesseract who unearthed its melodic potential. Originally, the Brits were one of an array of bedroom projects mimicking the ideas the Swedish luminaries introduced, but they gradually found a tenderness that lifted them above the pack. Singers Abisola Obasanya, Daniel Tompkins and Ashe O’Hara all deserve credit for finding beauty in the chuggy dissonance, while guitarist Acle Kahney layers ambient leads on top of his own hulking riffs. Listen to such anthems as Nocturne, Juno and Luminary and you’ll hear the same down-tuned push and pull that Sleep Token specialise in.
Leprous
Sometimes it feels like Sleep Token owe Leprous royalties. On their 2013 album Coal and especially its masterpiece of a follow-up The Congregation, the Norwegians paved the “dynamic, hook-packed prog” avenue that Vessel’s bunch are driving down. It’s easy to hear the echo of such odysseys as Moon and The Valley – which journey from electrified verses to climactic, metallic refrains – in the likes of The Summoning. The band also touch on funk (I Lose Hope), post-rock (On Hold) and classical (The Last Milestone) across their spotless catalogue, while Einar Solberg’s vocals are as diverse as they are heart-rending.
Failure
Failure are the sole band that we know for certain Vessel listens to. In his only-ever interview, the vocalist named the space/alt-rockers’ magnum opus Fantastic Planet as his favourite album from the 1990s. “It’s devastatingly bleak in a way that resonates into our deepest self,” he explained in his typically cryptic way. Released as the angst of grunge was on the downswing and nu metal was starting to rampage its way towards the mainstream, the band’s final release for 19 years never got the love it deserves, but its introspective lyrics and down-trodden mood definitely crept into Sleep Token’s material.
Shining
Not to be confused with the Swedish black metal band of the same name, Norway’s Shining are the founders of ‘blackjazz’. Their 2010 album saw them leap from jazz to metal but carry some of their old instrumentation with them, resulting in dizzying compositions like Fisheye and The Madness And The Damage Done. These noisy achievements employed a hell of a lot of saxophone solos, and since then the instrument’s become more commonplace in heavier music. Rivers Of Nihil, Caligula’s Horse and – of course – Sleep Token have all used it to lend some loungy sophistication to their craft.
