Tag Archives: Sleep Token

Music

Sleep Token – Take Me Back To Eden

I can’t believe I haven’t reviewed this album yet. It is definitely a top 10 album for me in 2023.

I don’t know how to describe it.

At a high level, it is progressive. But it’s not progressive with complex time changes and intricate passages. Its progressive via the songwriting. Each song is varied with different styles and genres thrown in. Verse riffs are different, and the melodies are different between verses on some songs. Some songs don’t even have a Chorus. Just verse after verse. Some songs have a repeating hook that moves between syncopated progressions.

Chokehold

This is the song that grabbed me by the throat and strangled me. It’s that vocal line and that voice, which reminds me of “Take Me To Church” from Hozier.

The Chorus riff crashes in afterwards, but you don’t hear the Chorus words of “you got me in a chokehold” until the next time.

Then the 2nd verse comes in, with arpeggiated lines and another vocal line, different to what came before.

Then the Chorus crashes in and I am hooked. Mesmerized. At 71.2 plus million streams and counting so are a lot of other people.

Even Daughtry covered it for a live performance, just himself and an acoustic guitar. By doing this, Daughtry demonstrated how pop like the melodies are in the song.

The Summoning

This one is almost at 150 plus million streams.

If you jumped into the band because of “Chokehold” this song might change your mind because its got screaming vocals, intricate atmospheric guitar playing which reminds me of “Between The Buried And Me” and other vocal lines that wouldn’t be lost on the “White Pony” Deftones album.

If anything, it follows the vibe of what people recognize as “Djent”.

The section from the minute mark is essential listening because it comes out of nowhere. Its almost soul like, more Imagine Dragons and One Republic than metal or djent.

Brilliant stuff and I like the variation.

Granite

A synth line kicks off the song, which sounds like it was written on the TonePad iPhone app.

And the song lives in this environment, very pop like and I like it. Then a jarring, math like riff kicks in at 2.40 mark. It could get boring, but then the infectious vocal melody from earlier is sung over it and its worth your attention.

Aqua Regia

The synth/keyboards is a very dominant instrument in Sleep Token. It lives in its atmospheric synth world and doesn’t jar me, but that doesn’t mean it’s a crap song. On the contrary.

Vore

It spends the first minutes with ghoul like vocals, almost black metal guttural before it moves into clean tone vocals which makes me feel I am on top of Mt Everest and I am screaming my lungs out.

That section from 3.50. Listen to it.

Ascensionism

The piano line is hypnotic, and it grabs my attention straight away.

Then at 1.50 it’s a hip hop like song, with autotune and all the bells and whistles which comes with that genre.

Then at 3.44 its back to that haunting piano line and then the distortion guitars kick in and I am sick from all the movements within the song.

Progressive it is, purely from blending their influences expertly.

And that riff from 4.44, is doom metal, with a screaming ghostly scream. Then its back to the hypnotic piano line at the 5.25 mark. But there is still 2 minutes to go.

Make sure you stick around for the last 45 seconds. It’s worth it.

Are You Really, Okay?

A clean tone guitar riff and I feel like I am at a campfire. Its heartland like stuff.

The vocals are all clean tone, enhancing the emotion. When the drums come in, it feels like a Neil Young album, but I cant shake the feeling of “Albatross” from Fleetwood Mac that the song gives me.

The Apparition

“Why are you never real whenever you appear?”

It’s the opening line, over a clean tone fingerpicked guitar riff. It’s almost Spanish like in its feel.

Then a synth line kicks in, demanding attention. Hip hop like drums come in and I am paying attention to see what kind of journey this song would take me on. But it percolates in this vibe.

Then at 2.24 it takes off, with soaring vocals over a math like guitar riff. Its catchy and I am on the magic carpet ride the song offers, soaring between galaxies and the afterlife.

DYWTYLM

It stands for “Do You Wish That You Loved Me”.

The main keyboard riff has sonics that remind me of the TonePad app. It wouldn’t be out of place on an Imagine Dragons album or on one of Daughtry’s albums between 2013 and 2017. Its memorable
and dance like and it lives in this vibe for the whole song.

Rain

It’s at 16 million streams on Spotify. Another piano riff and a catchy vocal melody. And the song just builds.

Take Me Back To Eden

The title track is almost at 67.5 million streams on Spotify. You feel like you are at a nature retreat and the start of the song has that vibe, soothing and relaxing. Even the words like crystal waters, dream in phosphorus and perfect ocases

At 2.30 the distortion kicks in and those soaring vocals are back. Its been a theme of the album, to have these kind of soaring vocals. But at 3.23, it goes to hip-hop and you could think that you are ears deep into an Enimen album.

At 4.44 another hanting section comes in with piano and then when the distortion kicks in, its hopeful, iuts sad but still hopeful. And it lives in this vibe until the end. With the last 50 seconds jarring me out of my nature retreat with screaming vocals which came out from nowhere. And I suppoise this is Sleep Token with so many variables and movements in their songs.

Euclid

My favorite track on the album. As soon as the first notes of the piano riff started I was hooked. The vocal line is hypnotic and it’s a cross between Daughtry and Hozier.

And the way the song builds is perfection.

Press play and allow your ears to take you on a journey.

Standard
A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Copyright, Influenced, Music, My Stories

Four For Friday

It’s all about Copyright, that little piece of legislation meant to give creators a monopoly on their works, so they could create new works, however the creators now sell or license their rights to a corporation, who then seem to hold onto the rights forever and by doing so, the Corporations keep lobbying hard to change laws so copyright lasts forever.

THE VALUE IN COPYRIGHTS KEEPS GETTING BIGGER

It’s 2008 and the Global Finacial Crisis decimated assets across the world. In these wastelands, the Investment Houses turned to Copyrights to balance portfolios.

The arrival of streaming services took off the cloak and funny math on royalties by the labels. While artists complained about the pay per stream rate, one thing they couldn’t complain about was the amount of money paid to the organizations that held the rights.

15 years later, these portfolios keep making money for the Investment Houses as the majority of music consumers transitioned to streaming.

In 2022, Germany generated 1.656 Billion in streaming revenue. The total income for the country was 2.07 Billion so streaming equated to 80 percent of it.

Globally in 2022, streaming revenues reached 17.5 billion U.S. dollars. 70 percent of total recorded music revenue.

If you are not getting a cut of it, someone else definitely is.

COPYRIGHT AFTER DEATH

It’s been five years since Aretha Franklin died and her heirs are still fighting over who handles her Estate, which has her Royalties paid to.

The unusual trial will determine which of the two handwritten wills, including one found in couch cushions, will come in force.

The interesting part is how Aretha valued her earnings from Copyright, which she listed as $1. Meanwhile, the Estate earned $4 million in one year after her death.

SPOTIFY PAYMENTS TO SWEDISH ARTISTS

Since 2008, Sabaton has amassed 2.5 billion streams on Spotify. Check out the research.

It is estimated that Spotify has paid the rights holder of Sabaton’s catalogue between $9.6 million and $15.9 million during this time.

If Sabaton owned their Masters 100%, then they would have received between $7.6 and $12.6 million dollars from Spotify. It equates to $507K and $840K per year. There are five members in the band, so taking the lower amount, each member would get $100K each. This takes into account that they have no manager percentage, accountant percentage and so forth.

If they had a 50% Royalty agreement with their label, they would have received between $3.7 and $6.3 million dollars. It equates to $247K and $420K.

If they had a 20% Royalty agreement with their label, they would have received between $1.5 and $2.5 million dollars as the label would get the other 80%. It equates to $100K and $167K. Taking the lower value, each member would receive $20K for the year, which comes to $1,666 per month. This takes into account that they have no manager percentage, accountant percentage and so forth.

RE-RECORDINGS

The Law states that artists can get back their rights after so many years. But the labels are fighting each case tooth and nail.

So if the artists have the means, they are creating new masters and are making those new masters as canon. This in turn gives them control over their music and they can then license these recordings to TV Shows and Movies and Games on their own terms.

SONG I AM LISTENING TO

Chokehold from Sleep Token.

It came up on a Release Radar many months ago and I’ve been hooked ever since. Hooked enough to buy the Vinyl album when it came out a few weeks ago.

From the U.K, they combine Pop, R&B, World, New Age, Church, Classical, Folk and Djent like tech metal. And I’m a fan.

To show how much cross over appeal they have, you can watch Daughtry do a live acoustic cover of the song.

Metal music is always resilient to changes in genres however it’s also easily adaptable to other genres or it can be used as a fusion element.

And fusion is happening everywhere.

Taylor Sheridan is good at mashing unrelated and different story ideas into one cohesive story.
Yellowstone is a mash up of Classic Westerns, Medieval dramas with a lot of back story and political thrillers. Tulsa King is “The Godfather” in a Western setting.

And then I did some research on em, and they have a gimmick, wearing face covering like ninjas from an anime.

Check em out.

Standard