“Fall For Me” is the worst offender, as that track is absolutely nothing but Vessel singing into a vocoder. There are several tracks (“Fall For Me”, “Descending”, and “Missing Limb”) that don’t abide by this trademark Sleep Token formula, and by that I mean that they’re stripped down and don’t really go anywhere interesting either – these songs just start and eventually end. You can see these crescendos coming from a mile away, and the fact that the slower parts are so drawn out and much longer than they need to be on this album makes it even more painful to get through. At this point, their music is no longer surprising and incredibly predictable instead.

Sleep Token are fully aware of this clever musical trick, and as a result, nearly their entire discography abuses that compositional surprise aspect. Once you find out the secret to the trick, though, all seems incredibly mundane and dull from then on.

This defying of expectations is what makes this kind of song so effective and addicting for listeners who are unaware of what the magic trick is. Although sounding very pristine and gorgeous, some of these songs may start to feel underwhelming, thus providing ‘low’ (or rather, not high) expectations at first, but once the sudden breakdown comes out of nowhere, it provides so much satisfaction, as your expectations were shattered. The use of harmonic surprises often leaves listeners under the guise that songs are more interesting or special than they really are. Think of it like the bass drops in dubstep, just a little more nuanced here. This reliance on ‘harmonic surprises’, with the surprise being a sudden breakdown or an increase in instrumental intensity, is sure to put many fans completely under their spell. But as they started to build their discography with Sundowning and the upcoming release of This Place Will Become Your Tomb, it couldn’t be clearer that Sleep Token are doing more of the same thing, thus becoming a one-trick pony.Īt first, their minimalistic vibe, coupled with Vessel’s incredibly soulful vocals, suddenly leading to instrumental explosions was mind-blowing, but as they release more and more material, you begin to realize that most of their songs follow this exact formula, and while it does sound great, it gets incredibly stale fairly quick This Place Will Become Your Tomb is no exception. The juxtaposition was absolutely entrancing, especially given the fact that at that time, they had very little music out to sink my teeth into. The way they blended that soft electronic, soulful sound and built it up to catastrophic, heavy moments blew me away at first it gave me musical whiplash. Having not heard what this group was capable of doing beforehand, that song was completely something else at the time. When I first came across Sleep Token, it was through release of their standalone single “Jaws” back in 2018.

Although the soundscapes are undeniably gorgeous, it shows the group continuing to exploit their formula, ultimately providing a lackluster experience that gets dull so much sooner than you’d like.

What better way to utilize said momentum other that continuing with the same well-received formula? Well, here we are, as Sleep Token are releasing their sophomore effort, This Place Will Become Your Tomb. Ever since the unorthodox but highly successful run-up to the release of their debut record Sundowning back in 2019, they’ve garnered an incredible amount of attention and momentum. Sleep Token has always been an interesting group, one who has been shrouded in mystery.

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