I'm not entirely sure what to make of
Sleep Token, but I think I might really, fucking really like them.
Their general schtick is, to quote their Wiki page, that "the members of Sleep Token are a masked, anonymous collective of musicians said to be united in their worship of an ancient deity identified as 'Sleep', who appeared to the band's lead singer, 'Vessel', in a dream"
So far, so metal; their sound though is a million miles from others who use a similar gimmick. The lead singers voice is often clear and soaring in a way that's very 'pop' and given that a lot of their stuff at least begins with just him and piano--plus their use of auto-tune--it results in something that you wouldn't bat an eyelid if you saw it on like fucking X-Factor or something; with the only give away being the more interesting and macabre lyrics. As the songs progress though other elements are added, maybe a skittering electronic drum beat here, or the throb of a guitar there, and sometimes even a massive post-rock riff will kick the fucking doors down and not let go until the end of the tune.
In almost every case the songs ends differently enough from how it started to make you appreciate the edge that was added to the initial presentation, and transforms a sound initially bordering on banal into something much more haunting.
Some examples of their stuff linked below:
The Offering: full on darkly atmospheric metal banger, one of the best rock tunes I've heard in a while.
Higher: soaring auto-tuned ambience gains brooding break-beats halfway in before finally exploding into something not-a-million-miles away from 90s grunge.
Blood Sport: possibly my favourite and, lyrics aside, the closest they comes to something Simon Cowell would grudgingly applaud; at least before the crunching guitar and vocal snarling arrive to kick things up. There's an
alt version that's recently been released with just Vessel and a piano and it will not let go of my brain.