The cult of Sleep Token

With the band's meteoric rise in popularity in recent years and the resistance from die-hard metalheads, I ask why metal fans can't have nice things?

First things first. I can’t legitimately say I’m a full-blown metalhead, but I dabble here and there. I like Black Sabbath, and I’ve listened to the odd bit of Judas Priest, Mötley Crüe, and Metallica. I own a Slayer t-shirt, and I even once listened to Anthrax.

The reason to share my metal credentials is relevant, because I want to discuss the band Sleep Token and their meteoric rise to fame, as well as touching on the cult-like nature of their fan base, but also explore how divisive they seem to be as an act. It’s worth me saying that I have first-hand experience of them performing live, as I saw the band headline recently at Download festival; which was their only UK gig this year.

To cover the basics, Sleep Token are an English rock band which formed in 2016 and fall under the category of progressive metal, alternative/indie and rock. I think of them as pop metal, or maybe ballad metal. Is that a thing?

They are known for wearing masks to remain anonymous, with lead singer simply called Vessel, and the rest of the band named Vessel 1, Vessel 2 and so on. There is more to their identity beyond just wearing masks and cloaks for the sake of remaining anonymous. In 2017 their record label at the time put out a description which explained that the band are said to be ‘the mortal representatives of the ancient deity known only as “Sleep”, led by the masked and cloaked figure appointed “Vessel”... the master creator behind the music.’

Whether you think this all sounds a bit overblown and ridiculous or kind of cool probably depends on what you want from your musicians and the music you consume. And it’s entirely possible for fans to love their music but not buy into the vision behind it all.

But make no mistake, the band does have a distinct vision — which you can see not only in their music, but in their branding and visuals, both on and off stage. They employ Pagan-esque icons and symbols, and their merchandise makes use of greens, golds and pinks (at least for their latest album), which feel a considered step away from your typical black and red rock merch.

Watching them headline at Download I was struck by how trippy their stage visuals were. Lead singer Vessel was often outlined in one colour, with the stage and band in another, lurid shades bleeding and blending together. It actually put me in mind of the animation technique used for Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 The Lord Of the Rings animated film.

Here are images from the movie and grainy phone pictures I took at Download. You can see parallels, right?

Sleep Token at Download festival 2025

Ralph Bakshi's 1978 film Lord of the Rings

It turns out I’m not the only one to notice some sort of pattern (thanks autism), one Reddit user thought the band’s first three albums — which were designed as a trilogy — mirrored Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, in terms of the story being told.

And perhaps there is some merit to this theory. Also, Vessel does dress a bit like Sauron, with his cloak, mask and shoulder armour. Within a few minutes of them stepping on stage I turned to my partner, highly pleased, and said that the band should rename themselves ‘Sauron and the Mindflayers.’ (Which I still maintain is a great name.)

If we return to Sleep Token’s rise in popularity, a couple of years ago, in 2023, alternative music magazine Rock Sound wrote that, ahead of their performance at Manchester’s prog rock Radar Festival, Sleep Token are perfect headliners — for any festival. The article also mentioned how the band sold out their Wembley Arena gig in under 10 minutes, and achieved the highest ever gross sales for that venue. Rock Sound also thought that Sleep Token’s cult was growing ‘at a staggering pace’.

In September that same year Vessel featured on the cover of Kerrang! magazine’s quarterly issue, which was described thusly: ‘From mysterious cult to multiversal sensation: inside Sleep Token’s phenomenal rise.’ It’s a cool cover, and it’s probably fair to say the people at Kerrang! are fans.

In an interview with Revolver magazine in December, Evanescence’s lead singer, Amy Lee, said she was ‘blown away’ by Sleep Token, and wondered ‘how do they go in so many musical directions and still call it one song?’

There is definitely an element of getting one’s head around their music and where they fit, because people like to compartmentalise things. In January last year Loudwire ran a piece discussing how fans would best explain Sleep Token to their grandparents, with one Reddit user saying ‘they are the Pink Floyd of our generation’. Whatever genre their music is, people seem to like it. In March Blunt magazine reported on the band completely selling out all 17 arenas of their North American tour, and said it was ‘not bad for a band some people still claim no one listens to.’

Which brings us onto the naysayers. It’s not really a new thing that, in various musical genres, that there are die-hard fans and gate-keepers that consider themselves purists and resist change. But by god, there do seem to be a lot of them in metal. And lately they appear to be gunning for Sleep Token.

For every fan posting on social media about how they love the band and enjoyed their gig or just discovered their music or whatever, there will be an avalanche of comments under said post about why they are terrible and not metal/the worst thing to ever happen to metal. It’s quite something.

And it’s gotten to the point where other leading figures in the scene have been defending Sleep Token. Not only did the founder of Download festival, Andy Copping, have to back his decision to book them last November, but other figures have stepped up as well. Last February Judas Priest’s Rob Halford — a man who is basically metal royalty — called them ‘a really curious band’ and hopes to one day take a selfie with Vessel. Halford certainly sounds like he admires them, at the very least.

Writing in Metal Hammer magazine earlier this month the former Bad Wolves and current Snot guitarist, Don Coyle, wrote a passionate piece about the pretentious gate-keeping and toxicity around Sleep Token, and said he’d seen this sort of thing before. He argues that pop music is not so much a sound but what is popular, and says ‘most of the biggest metal songs are pop songs, with heavier window dressing’, citing Metallica’s Enter Sandman and Iron Maiden’s Wasted Years. He says the same thing happened to Limp Bizkit in 2003, getting booed when they opened for Metallica, and years later they are seen as cool. Coyle goes on to ask why ‘we have to keep repeating the same pattern of tearing down our successful acts?’ I can’t say I have an answer, but he’s right, it’s an odd thing.

Korn headlined the Sunday at Download, with Sleep Token taking the main slot of Saturday. Korn also came to Sleep Token’s defence, saying they ‘shut everyone up’ with their set, and ‘went bigger than a Slipknot stage’. It’s nice they said this, but I doubt it will quieten the internet. It is the internet, after all. Ultimately it shouldn’t matter. Especially not when the band is enjoying such success. But still, it’s strange behaviour from so-called metal fans.

Whilst I attended Download with my partner, who is a die-hard Sleep Token cultist, I barely knew any of their songs. I liked some of what I heard, and liked some songs in parts. The whole band were clearly highly accomplished musicians, and sounded superb live. Perhaps better than pre-recorded. I guess they are growing on me.

One thing I will say is that I was particularly blown away by the visuals and the strong sense of identity the band had. Overall their set entertained me, particularly considering I only half-knew two or three songs, but not once did I think, you know what, I’d better post a TikTok of how terrible they are and how no one listened to them.

So I guess I have to ask: what’s more cult-like behaviour, supporting a band that’s doing things differently and arguably pushing a scene forward, or mindlessly trying to tear them down?