Sleep Token: Emergence

This week on Mandatory Music, tensions rise as Sebastian and Mike dive into Sleep Token's brand-new track, “Emergence.” For one of the first times on the show, the duo finds themselves on opposite sides—sparking a passionate, thought-provoking debate. They unpack the haunting lyrics, dissect the song's construction, and explore the intricate layers of its production. Is “Emergence” a bold new chapter or a step too far? Tune in for a deep dive, some heated takes, and a whole lot of sonic analysis.

https://youtu.be/JJpFTUP6fIo?si=jElTLPTFRBNfgBbu

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Transcript

[Speaker 1]

We are back! Mandatory music is back. Yes, Mike, how are you?

[Speaker 2]

How are things? Uh, things are good. Uh, you know, facial hair's out of control, like you can see right now, so...

It is, uh, going sideways. My beard is growing out as opposed to growing south, so, uh, I kind of look like a bald Santa Claus a little bit. So, yeah, anyways.

[Speaker 1]

I had a question for you, Mike.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah, dude.

[Speaker 1]

Will you wrap your arms around me?

[Speaker 2]

Will I? Of course I will. Absolutely, I'll wrap my arms around you.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, we are doing, uh, Sleep Token's Emergence today. And, uh, will you wrap your arms around me is a constant in the lyric of this song. Yeah, it really is.

Um, so we are on different sides of the fence, probably. I mean, I'm not gonna say I'm the biggest Sleep Token fan, but, Mike, what is your opinion of Sleep Token, honestly?

[Speaker 2]

Okay, okay. Um, I know...

[Speaker 1]

You may offend some people here, but go ahead.

[Speaker 2]

I might. A few months ago, we did a little, we did like a five-episode series on Sleep Token, and that was the first time I'd ever listened to Sleep Token before I'd heard of them. I didn't know what they were.

I thought the masks were cool. I thought the, we don't know who they are. I think that's a great thing.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah.

[Speaker 2]

But other than that... Still don't know. We still don't know, and I think that's cool, how they can keep this under, they can keep their identities, because, you know, Ghost got ratted out, you know, which is fine, but...

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, I think with Ghost, they had to, because there were some plagiarism situations with Ghost, and so he had to come out and like defend the songs or whatnot, and so he had to like go to court or whatever it was. I remember reading that somewhere. I don't know specifically, but yeah, go ahead.

[Speaker 2]

So my thing with Sleep Token is it's, it's, well, first of all, it's not for me. That's, we're gonna start there, because it's just, there's too much genre hopping. There's, I don't like the auto-tuniness in the voices.

It's, there's not enough drums and guitar in it for me.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, that's, that's, that was going to be one of my points today, but go on.

[Speaker 2]

And then I'm also going to say, I think they're kind of like the Coldplay of metal.

[Speaker 1]

Well, I see what you're saying there. Like, and I'm not trying to be like... I understand that, yeah.

But it's... This is how I say that Drake is the Nickelback of the hip-hop world.

[Speaker 2]

Yes, I can also say I've never heard one Drake song in my life. Yes, you have.

[Speaker 1]

You're probably not aware that you've heard it, but yes, you have.

[Speaker 2]

I'm sure you have.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah.

[Speaker 2]

Well, then it sucks to be me then.

[Speaker 1]

The world disagrees with you, Mike, because in the first week that this song came out, it had over 9.9 million plays in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100. Like it's, it's, it's a song that the entire world, like Sleep Token is... Okay, I know this is going to be very broad, but there's three different people, groups of people that approach Sleep Token.

There are the ravenous fans that cannot handle the fact that people don't like Sleep Token. Like, oh my God, they're amazing. They're like the greatest band of all time.

They're like all in Sleep Token. There is you, which just goes, I do not get it. It's not for me.

I do not get it. And that's fine. And then there's the people that are like, I don't understand what the big deal is.

[Speaker 2]

I'm kind of the last two because I, all I don't...

[Speaker 1]

I'm in the middle part. I'm like, I don't understand what the big deal... Like, I mean, I understand why people like the songs, but I'm not going to go out and say this is like the greatest song I've ever heard in my life, which is what the ravenous Sleep Token fans, in my experience, say every song that they reference are like, this is the greatest song of all time.

This is the greatest song of all time. This is the greatest song of all time. I think the point with Sleep Token is it's trying to get into a space that's kind of been lost in the world.

Everybody wants to fit everything in boxes all the time. Like that is a safe space for people to do because they want it to be relatable to something that they're comfortable with, right? And Sleep Token has defied that model of not being put into a box of...

I mean, you can say if you're going to put them in any box, it's going to be new metal. I would assume. And hip hop.

[Speaker 2]

And Coldplay. And like piano driven Coldplay. Yeah, there's a lot of piano.

But it's like, and that's why I mean they're like the metal Coldplay, because they have beautiful piano arrangements. And Vessel, the singer guy, Vessel number one, I'm assuming one, he's the singer.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah.

[Speaker 2]

He's got an amazing voice. An absolute... I mean, he's a great...

I'm assuming he writes lyrics too. Great singer, great lyric writer. But maybe it's the part I don't get is all the songs are sort of...

They all sort of swim in the same pool.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, they do have a certain style to them, right? Where it's... When you look at the way the instruments typically align in metal, for example, Sleep Token completely changes that.

Because there's no real riffs. No. You don't listen to a guitar riff and go, oh, that's a badass riff.

[Speaker 2]

It's not guitar based music, right?

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, it's not like Lord Humongous. When you hear that riff, you're like, oh, that's a badass riff. The guitar isn't there for the riffs.

It's the vocals, melody, and the piano, really, that carries the entire melody lines. And the guitar is like an accent of emotion, almost, is the best way. So it gets to that middle part, specifically in this song.

And that new metal guitar sound comes in, where it's like very... What's the word I'm looking for? Like fuzzy?

Fuzzy is the wrong word.

[Speaker 2]

I don't want to use it. You know what I'm talking about? I do.

When it got... Okay, before we get into that...

[Speaker 1]

It's that distortion blend.

[Speaker 2]

Yes.

[Speaker 1]

You know, that new metal distortion blend where it's like... Like, it's hard to pick out the notes.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah.

[Speaker 1]

But that's by design. It is.

[Speaker 2]

Caramel's a lot like that at the end of the song. You're just like...

[Speaker 1]

I haven't listened to that yet, but that will be later.

[Speaker 2]

What the hell's going... Anyways. But I will say, I'm not a lyric guy, and I'm not a vocal guy.

So that kind of... Like, I love listening to bands with, you know... I'm not even...

Guitars aside, drummers. I love drummers. I love listening to drummers.

And Sleep Token's drummer, when he plays, which to me is not enough, he is awesome.

[Speaker 1]

Like, it's just... Yeah, he's a very good drummer.

[Speaker 2]

It's something... I've watched a few videos of him online doing, like, tutorials of songs. It is, like, something to behold watching this man play drums.

Like, it's insanity what he squeezes into these songs. Because you think all this stuff would never fit, but he... He...

I don't know. He dances around the song in such a brilliant way where it just... I don't know.

He's... It's not accent, but it's just amazing. But then it stops, and it's gone.

Then it's, like, hip-hop stuff.

[Speaker 1]

And I'm like, just... I think what might help you is if you don't... And I don't know if you do or not, but what helped me...

I shouldn't say it might help you. It helped me where I stopped looking at them to want to be a metal band. Like, I stopped looking at Sleep Token to fit in the space of metal, because they're not...

I don't think they're metal. I don't think they're anything, really, in terms of, like, what genre you want. I mean, again, like I said at the beginning, it's probably new metal.

But there... I will say this about Vessel. He is...

He's a poet. Yes. Like, his lyrical writing and his...

You know, there's definitely a shtick... Shtick's the wrong word. There's definitely a theme behind style, behind what they want to say.

And a lot of their songs are very, I guess, for lack of better words, ethereal, cosmic. Mm-hmm.

[Speaker 2]

Yes. And his voice is very, sort of, like, out in the cosmos, too. Like, with the effects they put on it.

And his delivery is sort of...

[Speaker 1]

Almost dreamlike.

[Speaker 2]

It is very dreamlike. And I think, I don't know, I... And I'm not gonna...

I don't want to, like, crap on it, because it's not my style, but it...

[Speaker 1]

But here's what I want to say to everyone listening to this right now. It's okay that someone doesn't like your song. That's right.

It's okay. You'll be fine. We have to get away from this having to get everyone to like the stuff that we like.

Because there's diversity in the world for a reason. Because a lot of people like different things. And some people don't like metal.

Some people don't like hip-hop. Some people don't like R&B, or country, or rap, or whatever. And some people don't like it all mixed into one song.

Some people don't like it all mixed into one song.

[Speaker 2]

Sorry, I couldn't help it.

[Speaker 1]

Well, it was up there.

[Speaker 2]

No, but you're totally right. Because there's a lot of stuff that I send to you, and you're just like, oh, dear God.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, it's usually the out there fighting dinosaurs with space suits and lasers coming out of their eyes.

[Speaker 2]

You know, and I've been finding... You know, I find music, and there's stuff I don't send to you, or I make my wife listen to. She's like, how do you even...

[Speaker 1]

What's wrong with you?

[Speaker 2]

More or less. Like, what... Dude, like, what happened?

Like, what happened to you? And maybe, with all that said, I should like Sleep Token, because they are... A lot of these out there bands that I like, they sound something like...

[Speaker 1]

You may come around at some point in your life when you're like, you know what? I understand this now.

[Speaker 2]

Like, I've heard six songs. That's it. And they have how many records?

Four, three, five, whatever. Seventeen, I don't know. But I've heard six songs, and I liked a couple of them.

Yeah. I think you're right when you say that I know we're supposed to be talking about the song, but we're delving into why I don't like them, but...

[Speaker 1]

But a lot of people will probably share your sentiment.

[Speaker 2]

I think I... Maybe I do need to just sort of throw my expectations of what I think they should be out the window and just listen.

[Speaker 1]

Listen to it as a song without, like, wanting it to fit in a box. Because I think that's what it's all about, is the fact that they're specifically writing music that isn't defined by the traditional... Well, it's metal, so you need a screaming guitar solo.

You need a blast beat. You need...

[Speaker 2]

Or crazy deep vocals or something that's growly, growly.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah. Having said that, though, they do have a lot of similar songs. You are right in that regard.

Like, they kind of fit a similar pattern based on how they want... Like, it comes off really tender. And, you know, we've done six, seven songs, you said?

[Speaker 2]

Yeah. It's a slow build and then, boom, it's... The last two minutes are psychotic, usually.

And it's like, okay, that's great.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, but the pacing... I wouldn't say it's psychotic. I would say it intensifies.

Yes. Like, the beats never get... Like, it never quickens the pace of the song.

No. Like, it's still that... It's still a crawl.

The song... Every one of their songs we've listened to has basically been very slow in terms of how the music progresses. It's not like Megadeth, where it's like, you know...

It's by design this way, right?

[Speaker 2]

So... It is. So, when the song got heavy this time, I think it was not at the...

Like, after there was like... Well, no. But I'm not going to say anything good about it.

I'm going to say, I think it was squeezed in forcefully. I don't think it fit at all.

[Speaker 1]

You think so?

[Speaker 2]

Yes. Like, when I was listening to it, the only thought I had was... I think the guitar player kind of got mad.

He wanted something in the song that was his. And he just wanted something.

[Speaker 1]

He's like, bro, I'm tired of not playing.

[Speaker 2]

Throw me a bone. I'm tired of the texture and the color. Can you just...

I want to play something heavy and loud for two minutes. They're like, fine. We'll give you 45 seconds in this song.

[Speaker 1]

Okay, fine.

[Speaker 2]

But that's what it felt like. It just felt like it didn't fit. And I'm like, okay.

And then it was... Then he was singing over. And I was like, no, it worked better when it was you and the piano.

And even the hip-hop beats. It was better with that than...

[Speaker 1]

It kind of felt like the guitarist and the singer were having an argument writing the song. And the guitarist got fed up and unplugged the singer's mic and said, this is my time.

[Speaker 2]

Right? Yeah, exactly. You shut up for five minutes and let me play.

I'm done. I know you're amazing, but stop. Just please stop.

But I know we're not talking about Caramel. But that song, at least it was the same kind of idea. But it just...

It all seemed to fit better. This just... It seemed...

And I know this song, like you said, had nine point whatever million listens. Probably that's on one platform alone. I'm sure tens of millions of people listen to the song and they love it.

[Speaker 1]

And I think you have to be someone that really appreciates lyrics and vocals to really understand Sleep Token and the vocal instrument. Yeah, I know. You're a music guy.

Your vocals are secondary for you. I get it.

[Speaker 2]

No, they're behind. Even behind the guitar. It's like drums, bass, guitar, vocals.

Yeah, there's piano. Then the piano comes before the vocals. Like it's all...

Like vocals to me are dead last. That's why I like that band Night so much. Because black metal vocals with 80s riffs is weird.

But I can tune the singer out. I can just tune them right out. And it's just like, wow, now we're talking.

But this I can't tune out because it's all about vocals and lyrics.

[Speaker 1]

Well, we have... Both of us have a subconscious seed of how we have listened to music since the 80s. Because we come from 80s, 90s metal, basically.

And rock, hard rock. And 70s classic rock, 60s classic rock as well. We have a certain expectation internally on what we have built our musical palette on.

And this is different than that. It's very different than that. I like the song.

I think it's... I mean, Sleep Talking isn't a band that I'm going to listen to constantly. But I do understand where they fit musically in the world.

And they're giving the world something that's different, for the most part. And a lot of people like that. A lot of people like...

[Speaker 2]

Can you explain to me why you like them? Is it just that what you just said is why? Or is there a deeper...

What gets you into...

[Speaker 1]

Well, look at it from an emotional standpoint. When you listen to him singing and actually take in the lyrics of what he's saying. Especially in this one.

Just imagine somebody in pain asking somebody to wrap your arms around me. I need comfort, right? When people start to actually understand the lyrics and fit that in with the emotion of the song, that's where the music blossoms for Sleep Talking.

Because they're very poetic. They're very lyrical-driven, like we've said, right? So that would be my omit to you.

[Speaker 2]

I don't think I'll ever get it because I'm obviously way too closed off to...

[Speaker 1]

Well, for now, but you may not be.

[Speaker 2]

For now, maybe at some point. I'm working on it. But at some point, I'll...

[Speaker 1]

But that's okay. I just want to reiterate that there's so much diversity in music. And it appeals to everybody.

Yeah, we can't get upset. It's bad to get upset at somebody if they don't like your song. So if you love the song and you don't like our response, be okay with it.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah, fine. And obviously, we have two different opinions, clearly. We do, yes.

This is probably the first time in our 56 episodes that we've... Or since we've been doing song reviews, that we've really differed on a song.

[Speaker 1]

Well, I mean, I saw a review of the song earlier in the week. And the guy basically said, he goes, The song is fine. Like, it's a good song.

Get off my back for not loving it as much as you do. That's what he said. I'm like, I agree with him.

You don't have to be like... You don't have to feel it's a 10 out of 10 song to appreciate and like the song.

[Speaker 2]

It's almost like we're teenagers still with music. It's like, oh, you don't like it? Well, you suck.

[Speaker 1]

Oh my god, you suck. Yeah.

[Speaker 2]

Like, get over it. I don't know. Like, I put on that new Volbeat song for my son.

Because I figured he'd be more open to it. And he's like, dad, this... No.

And then my wife's like, I really don't like this song. I'm like, I don't know.

[Speaker 1]

The voice, right?

[Speaker 2]

Must be, but I don't know. We'll talk about that. The song with the longest song title in the history of mankind.

[Speaker 1]

Oh boy, yeah. But like, obviously, this song didn't fit the same... My musical palette the way Paper Tiger did when I listened to that for the first time.

And I listened to that for the first time a couple weeks. So I was blown out of the house. This is immediately going on my workout playlist, right?

[Speaker 2]

Yeah, because this song's a challenge, right? Especially for me, it's a challenge. Because there's a lot of stuff in genres of music I don't like.

[Speaker 1]

Here's my question to you. If the songs were faster and less in that droney mode of like... You know, because it's...

Every Sleep Talking song we've done so far has been a pretty slow beat. Yes. If they were a little bit more upbeat and faster, would you think that you might enjoy them more?

[Speaker 2]

I don't think so, because... So, okay, with this song, it's got the beautiful piano intro. That is awesome.

Okay, cool. We've established it. I like it.

It's really good. And then it kind of gets... When his voice...

When he changes, modulates his voice after... Hello, dude. Where is it?

I'm trying to find it. Oh, it's like the 115 mark, the wrap your arms around me part, when he changes the sound of his voice. That irritates me.

It bugs me. I don't like it. Because...

He's using an effect on his voice. He's using an effect. And I'm all for effects.

But with a voice like that, you don't need to put effects on it. His actual voice is captivating to me.

[Speaker 1]

You don't feel like he needs to do that?

[Speaker 2]

I don't think he needs to do that. I think it's just like, hey, look what we can do. We're in the studio.

Unless you don't blah, blah, blah. And even...

[Speaker 1]

Well, there's definitely a reason why they've done it. And I don't really know why.

[Speaker 2]

I don't know why either. But for me, it bothers... It bugs the shit out of me.

So pardon my language. But I don't like it. And it threw me right off.

Because the hip-hop part is cool. It's actually kind of good. And then it goes back into the modulated voice.

I don't know.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, it's almost like auto-tuning and stuff. It's full of effects instead of just being natural. But I mean, it's for the song, right?

[Speaker 2]

It's for the song. But that Arms Around Me part, you could just... Maybe you can just...

Maybe on the cut-ins.

[Speaker 1]

It leads into the hip-hop-y part, which is really cool.

[Speaker 2]

After 18 minutes, the drummer finally comes in at the 240 mark. And... Tell me how you really feel, Mike.

Well, I think I should. But now, okay. Now the song's cool.

Not because it's heavy or whatever. But because it's got the full complement of instruments. The whole band's playing, right?

Like, I think it's... And now his voice is back to being kind of just natural. And he's just doing his...

They're doing their thing. Where it's not like, okay. The singer and the piano are doing their thing.

And then he's hip-hopping everything. And then, you know. And the tempo changes are great.

[Speaker 1]

Would you go to a Sleep Token concert?

[Speaker 2]

Oh, good God. Well, as of right this second, no. But if I listen to their whole discography...

[Speaker 1]

I would just check it out. Just to see if I can change my mind about it.

[Speaker 2]

It'd be amazing. Well, we're going to see Korn, so... But I kind of like Korn, so...

[Speaker 1]

Korn's more metal. Definitely more metal.

[Speaker 2]

I like like five. But I like five songs by Korn. So, whatever.

[Speaker 1]

You'll probably like a lot more of them when you see them live. So, one thing that I was thinking about and researching when I was doing this song is... Have you watched any of their videos for any of their songs?

[Speaker 2]

I think the ones that we did, I watched videos. But for Emergence, I have not watched the video.

[Speaker 1]

They're all the same. There's a theme behind every single video they do. And usually, it's like one image.

And the image doesn't change. It just moves within it. So, for this one, there's a banner.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah, there's like a banner on fire. I lie. I have seen it.

And it slowly burns.

[Speaker 1]

It slowly burns. And then there's the other one that we did. I believe it was Take Me Back to Eden, or it might have been The Summoning, where there was like this angel statue that like started to turn.

But it's literally one... They focus on one image in like a setting. So, this particular video is...

There's, I guess, red flowers, probably roses, and a path, and a banner in the middle. And there's some sort of like castle tower structure in the background. But the setting doesn't change.

It's just the banner's on fire. It burns through the whole thing, right?

[Speaker 2]

Like the burning of society.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah. And so, it's just interesting to me how they have a theme for every... Like it's the same style for every one of their videos that they do for the most part.

But they just change like the backdrop setting and the image that is centered in it, right? So, yeah. Take Me Back to Eden is the angelic statue, I believe.

Or a statue of an angel that like is slowly turning.

[Speaker 2]

It's like turning into like a demon kind of thing, right? Something to that effect? Ish?

[Speaker 1]

Well, it's got a scythe. So...

[Speaker 2]

Yeah. Well, behold. The Mrs. Grimm.

[Speaker 1]

And then the summoning is also has like something... It's like a... It's like a warrior almost.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah.

[Speaker 1]

I guess. There's like lasers coming out of him or whatever. But yeah.

[Speaker 2]

I think at the end of the day, I'm going to reserve judgment to not like these guys totally but when I listen to all four records.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, do it.

[Speaker 2]

All at once. See how you feel. Because I think it's kind of ignorant of me to say, well, I think they suck because I've heard six songs off of four records.

So like, come on. Like, no. I'm going to listen to...

I'm listening. I'm on the first album right now. The first song off of Sundowning is playing.

So we'll see how long I... How far I can go. Maybe I'll listen to some tomorrow during my day.

[Speaker 1]

So yeah. But there is praise for Sleep Talking in itself from fans just because of how they blend genres.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah.

[Speaker 1]

You know, a lot of people really like that because you know, why does a metal band just have to play metal? Why does a hip hop band just have to do hip hop? Why does the country band just have to do country?

Exactly right. I mean Metallica got chastised for that when they did Load and Reload.

[Speaker 2]

Right. And now I'm...

[Speaker 1]

But we celebrate that though, right?

[Speaker 2]

And I'm shitting on these guys for being different. Bit of a hypocrite, really. Yeah.

But the other five songs we did, I like... Or yeah. So this is song number six we've done.

I like Emergence the least.

[Speaker 1]

Really? Yeah.

[Speaker 2]

Not for me.

[Speaker 1]

Okay.

[Speaker 2]

Not for me.

[Speaker 1]

I mean, it's probably because it's got soft piano, saxophone and new metal guitar in it.

[Speaker 2]

I forgot the best part of the song is the saxophone solo at the end.

[Speaker 1]

That was amazing.

[Speaker 2]

I was like, whoa. I'm like, all right, this is cool.

[Speaker 1]

Where was that? It is. I do like the fact that one of the things that I like in music most is progressiveness and layering of instruments.

And when you listen to a lot of songs from the 80s, they don't do a lot of layering in music. It's like, here's the guitar riff and the bass riff and we'll just play that four times and then we'll move on to the next part and play that four times.

[Speaker 2]

There's four guys in the band so there's four tracks. That's it.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah. But diversity in music is when you start layering other things on top of each other to progress the song. Sleep Token is really good at that.

There's a lot of nuanced... Noises is the wrong word. Well, noise is the right word because...

I don't say it in a negative way. It's like they add layers of stuff.

[Speaker 2]

There's like a hundred different things going on behind everything.

[Speaker 1]

You sprinkle stuff in there, right?

[Speaker 2]

Yes, and I love that. Yeah, same. I just need to sit in a dark room, listen to these guys with these headphones that I'm wearing on my head.

So instead of my AirPods, which sound like garbage when you listen to this kind of music, you can't hear all the nuance.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah.

[Speaker 2]

The nuance because I'm... Yeah. The nuance.

The nuance, right? It's good.

[Speaker 1]

So is the new album out yet?

[Speaker 2]

I don't think so. It comes out May 9th.

[Speaker 1]

One month. Okay.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah. One might be a month. Yeah.

[Speaker 1]

What's the name of the album? Do you know?

[Speaker 2]

Even in Arcadia.

[Speaker 1]

Oh, right. Even in Arcadia. I have it right here.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah. Looks like there's 10 tracks.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah. So this is the lead single off of their new album. They have another one called Caramel, which I haven't listened to yet.

But a lot of people, I don't know. I have no idea what that's about.

[Speaker 2]

Maybe I need to try it again. I don't know. It's just the end kind of...

Actually, I liked the song until the end and I was like, okay, I think that's...

[Speaker 1]

They're largely from Great Britain, I believe, right? England.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah.

[Speaker 1]

And they have...

[Speaker 2]

Oh, they want you to think.

[Speaker 1]

No, he's British. You can kind of tell when he sings.

[Speaker 2]

Oh, the drummer's British too. When he talked in those drum videos, he's very British.

[Speaker 1]

Very British.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I did like Caramel until the end.

And then I just, again, I didn't understand the leap into black metal. I just didn't get it.

[Speaker 1]

I will say, though, I do like their logo.

[Speaker 2]

Oh, it's cool. Like, their mask is pretty badass. It is.

Well, even their masks and their whole get up is really cool. And it makes you think there's something else than what they are. You're like, oh, these guys are going to be, you know, Satan worshiping, you know, metalheads from Sweden kind of thing.

[Speaker 1]

But... Yeah, it's not about that, though.

[Speaker 2]

No. And I kind of feel bad for saying they're like Coldplay of metal, but...

[Speaker 1]

No, you don't.

[Speaker 2]

And I love... And honestly, I love the first three Coldplay records, like Rush of Blood to the Head and X and Y are two of my favorite records that are always on in my house, like whether it's me or my kids or... They're on a lot.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah. I mean, I'm not a Coldplay fan. Everybody knows that, though.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah, no. And they're not for everybody. And I think it's...

It's okay not to like sleep talking, Mike. It's okay. I'm going to try.

I'm going to try.

[Speaker 1]

I'm not going to force it. Maybe it'll hit you. Maybe it'll hit you one day.

Maybe it won't. Who knows?

[Speaker 2]

I think what maybe I need to do is put the essentials on my watch so when I go run, I could just listen to it. Right?

[Speaker 1]

I think the reason people like them is because they have an aura of enigma and mystery behind them.

[Speaker 2]

Oh, sure.

[Speaker 1]

Right? And when you look at like... I think to really take them in, it's almost like you'd have to see them live to see the presence of Sleep Token.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah.

[Speaker 1]

Because I think that's the missing element of this band. Like, they're a theater band. They're a theater...

I mean, we did two in a row. I mean, Ghost last week was a theater band. Yeah, they're a very theatrical band.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Speaker 1]

Same with Sleep Token. So... Yeah.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah, I'm just listening to Caramel now. It's very different than Emergence. It's a little more...

[Speaker 1]

One, two, three... This is their fourth album, even in Arcadia.

[Speaker 2]

So I could do it. I can listen to all four records this week.

[Speaker 1]

Oh, no, you're not.

[Speaker 2]

No, I probably won't. I might listen to one. Okay, let's just...

I'm going to shoot for the first record this week because I don't want to go...

[Speaker 1]

He changes his mask every album, I think, doesn't he? Really? I think it's like a...

I could be wrong. I don't know. I think I read that somewhere, but I don't know if that's actual factual, but...

[Speaker 2]

So out of 10, Youngfeller, what would you... We're going right down the middle. Five.

Five? Wow.

[Speaker 1]

Well, because I don't... I'm not... It's not a song that I would put on a playlist to listen to, right?

And so, you know, I can't give it a seven because, you know... Like, I understand and I appreciate it. I have some more elevating, illuminating to do before I can really embrace Sleep Talking for what it really is for the people.

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