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Who cares if their christians? They make incredible music. If you listen closely they have some roots in Christianity. But again, who cares? Their songs are absolutely ridiculous. If you listen to II's Drumeo interview he admits that he studied gospel drummers. So there is definitely christian undertones in his playing. Last, everyone's Sleep Token experience is different. What you take away from each song can be totally different from everyone else's.

I love this band never knew how anointed metal could be

Bro, could you please make a review video of “Perfect Soul” of Spiritbox?

Fellow believer and VOLA fan here. Appreciated your insights on the track. We experienced a loss last year now have a newborn “Wren” in reference to this song.

Tomas is very philosophical and if you watch a lot of his videos you will see it. He has also said something on the lines of not being gloomy in daily life, but it fits the theme of Meshuggah. Personally, as an older person who has been through stuff, the way Meshuggah criticizes society is a comfort. Humans deserve better (see also "Stifled").

@13:51 - which is why abortion is such a terrible evil (except when done as a last measure to save a mother's life). That destroyed human life, already completely written in its DNA forming it, only has that one chance, and never again.

glad u did vola and especially this song great video and sorry for your loss stay strong u and ur famiily

Vola is completely new to me. Hard for me to think of a more emotive lyrical topic than what they’ve covered there. Thank you for sharing your story so honestly - I have prayed and will pray for ongoing healing for you and your family

I agree and disagree with what you said but I do feel like this song is written in the Second person, as both someone who enjoys the bloodshed and depravity and the other who critiques it again going back to the equilibrium. One interesting point is that our innate desire to sin overcomes our desire to do good deeds so it portrays a constant struggle of allowing our wicked nature overcome what is ‘acceptable’ or ‘good’ but I do agree that Tomas does lean into the nihilistic POV of accepting what is happening but hating it which is of course, no bueno.

VOLA is so rad. I am glad you found them!

Witness was definitely bittersweet. Inside Your Fur hit me like a truck after losing my grandma and then my dad in 2023. As for what you and your family have gone through, my wife and I offer our prayers that those wounds are healed. Thank you for sharing that.

You should react to Reformed - Smoke of their torment

Listen to anything before Chaosphere the singer deviates in pitch more and also originally the singer was the second guitarist and helped write some of the songs Sickening off of None E.P. is my favorite song Jens wrote before Marten Hagstrom joined the band .

The black one who has fallen from the sky is actually Ancalagon, also called Black One, a drain created by Morgoth that was so huge that when he fell from the skies in the battle facing the Valar, he destroyed a whole mountain peak. Remember, this battle featured elves at the height of their power, Satan itself and also the Valar, who are like arch angels. It literally changed continents shapes

Blind Guardian is a deep ocean to dive into. And Then There Was Silence is a good start. And At the Edge of Time is a good album to start with.

I have to admit for a second I was confused when your names weren't christian.

Thank you for the review my guy!!!!!!!!!!! Appreciate you giving a small artist a chance

Hansi is a Christian,or at the very least has expressed tremendous appreciation for Christianity

Hey! Do you have a playliste I could follow?? On Spotify?

Andrew and I rather enjoyed it. We did try listening to song at 1.25 speed and realllly enjoyed it! It just felt like it needed that little boost of speed

hiya can you react to diamonds to dust temporary affliction

sad they walked away from Jesus after claiming to have found faith in Him. Now they blaspheme Him.

WOLVES AT THE GATE - DEADMAN, HERALDS, AWAKEN, COUNTERFIT, DRIFTER!! ALL BIG SONGS

It’s a metaphor. Everything isn’t always this serious man, but go ahead and overanalyze a song and shove “your god” in our faces and tell us how righteous it is. And if you truly knew what real abuse is like, you wouldnt get on a high horse about it. I forgot you did everything the right way, and anyone else that doesn’t needs to be insulted.

I liked the song (and review), I've never given them a chance, now I will. Thanks

I heard an interview with Steve and Nick and the origin story of Nick in the band was hilarious. Steve seems incredibly spiritually mature. He has a great understanding of scripture and reflects it well into their lyrics. Love these guys!

Wolves at the Gate... more like GOATS at the Gate 🔥😅🤘 Kings of great Choruses! We're definitely influenced by WATG if you want to check out and analyze one of our songs 😎👍 Love what you're doing 🔥🙌

Great work! Now do "Lowborn", "Wake Up", "Grave Digger", "East To West", "Asleep", "Weight Of Glory", "The King"... (you've opened "the gate" lol) Also, Bahnsen + Metal = Greatness

Thanks for assuaging my fears :D Glad you have them on! Keep up the awesome work

Nick has said in several interviews that their next record, supposedly to be released this year, is going to their "heaviest yet." (!)

Gotta do Take Me Back To Eden

“I’m about to mow the lawn so hard right now” I’m ded 😂

He just came up with a clever way to create music, and build an atmosphere. Religion has turned into a wet blanket over your frontal lobe. It's like plugging random instruments into a Boss metal zone. Your thoughts are distorted.

You are a nice person. I am Muslim and I believe in God and the afterlife and I love metal music. I don't think there is a problem. Good luck🙏

oh boy. Ok. Here we go. 1) Not everything is a Biblical reference. Metaphors can refer to anything, and while there are frequent allusions to the Bible and to church in their songbook that lead me to believe Vessel probably grew up in a church-going family, that doesn't mean it's everywhere in his music. Gold walls and a cinnamon couch, for example? That's a stretch. 2) Horrible things, like toxic relationships, happen to everyone - regardless of faith. Have you read the Bible? It's filled with God's people getting tortured, murdered, assaulted, and enslaved. Faith in Christ doesn't exempt you from bad things, or even bad choices. Not to mention that the divorce rate of Evangelicals in the US is higher than the national average. 3) Did you really use the phrase "loose women," and refer to them as "harpies?" Oh boy. The misogyny is strong with this one. 4) Relationships can be both celibate and toxic. They can be healthy, sexual, and occur outside of marriage. They can be Godly, sexual, and occur between consenting adults who may be something other than a heterosexual pair. I'm sure you believe otherwise. You've been told otherwise - but not by Scripture. 5) The lore of Sleep Token is a work of fiction. if you can't discern between faith and fiction, that's a personal problem. If you're stumbled by this work of fiction, that's certainly between you and God. The deity Sleep is a representation of his desire to escape from a painful reality, a place where he can imagine he is who he wants to be and is loved how he longs to be loved - the lure of which is so strong that he engages in suicidal ideation and attempts. If you'd read through their lyrics, this metaphor would be clear to you - unless you automatically think DEMON when triggered by fiction. In which case, well... become an independent thinker. I don't usually comment on TH-cam, but my "holy duty to be constantly awake" compels me to say something, because people watching this who don't know Christ are going to think that THIS is what Jesus is like. They'll see this judgmental, sex-shaming rando on TH-cam who thinks he represents Jesus - someone who loved everyone with no exception, and only got really mad at the Pharisees and capitalists - and think that Jesus is not for them. I love Jesus. I'm also sex-positive. I also think everyone should be treated with love, kindness, and respect regardless of religion, color, sex, gender, etc. etc. Whoever you are watching this video, you can love Jesus and enjoy Sleep Token. I know I do. Hopefully the rest of the Evangelical church will one day stop dancing to alarm bells, too. ;)

Had to 2x speed my workout to keep up with this

Sadley, these guys are very talented. But like parkway drive they rail on God. Same with a lot of the 80s and 90s rock. I say find something else to rail about. It ticks me off they have to rail on God.

I still can't hear this song without crying. A true masterpiece that depicts the emotions of grieving a loved one.

All the music is written and played by Vessel (except the drums). He’s just a sad nerdy djent kid that used to upload music online years ago. He’s a talented kid (he’s only 30) that practiced a lot and arranged covers of other music on piano, which ultimately sharpens his musical “knife”. The whole worship stuff and Sleep deity is just a gimmick. It’s all an allegory for codependency, trauma, grief… he is the “vessel” of learning to live and express these emotions. That’s it basically. There is a story woven into the lyrics, but essentially over analyzing the whole Sleep stuff is a waste of time since it’s just a marketing gimmick

Great video man! Lifelong Christian Metal Head and sinner here.... I have been struggling for some time to make sense of this band. I want to love it so much, due to it being so thought out and intentionally intelligent both contextually as well as musically. What I can gather so far, in my humble opinion, is that Sleep = Deep Rest = Depressed. Token = a thing serving as a visible or tangible representation of a fact, quality, feeling, etc. Turning depression into a tangible form represented by a deity named as such. The depression is indeed caused by a lost love. I believe just one lady. I think he was deeply in love with a woman and had every intention of staying with her and only her but she became abusive or distant and eventually left him, possibly for another man. That being said, I believe Vessel himself is indeed a Christian to some degree. Some of his image seems to even derive from the Orthodox Christians. He makes endless references to the Biblical texts without irony or vain. He almost pays homage to it in a way. I suppose this could be due to the fact that in today's world, being Christian isn't greatly marketable and even comes with much backlash from his own peers. I wonder if he wanted to go full on Christian music but needed a way to sneak it in and almost trick people into listening to it that would normally turn away from Christian music. (I did this myself in the lyrics for my own band years ago) All that being said, there is one thing I still cannot wrap my head around is the fact that Vessel has these extremely homosexual acts that take place with the guitar and bassists while performing. This is what keeps me thinking I am entirely wrong in my assumptions and pushes me farther away from the band. Anyway, just a thought.

I’m really glad for this podcast. NBR is my favorite band in the scene and has had a huge impact on my life. It’s also epic to be a fan who is also a social worker and a PK.

MSM, I hope you do a review video for Take Me Back To Eden and Euclid to round-off & finish your Sleep Token reviews. Personally, I feel Sleep Token has brought me closer to Father/Son/Holy Ghost! I think their overarching message is to rise up out of life's deepest ungodly ways to glorify God by living our best life on earth. "Life is dark. Life is bright. Life is ugly. Life is beautiful." Vessel, Metal Hammer, May 19th 2017 if you haven't gone down these rabbit holes, maybe check out the Sleep Talking podcast, and Alex Tamulis' analysis'

Vessel mouth full of peanut butter 😂

Heya! I myself am not religious although I have always found the concept and idea of religion as interesting and blissfully ignorant in some ways - Now I do not mean anything negative by that statement mind you - encountering the hardships of life as tests of faith while always being looked after by God always gives off a warm and cradled feeling that everything will be alright in the end. I was recently introduced to Sleep Token about 6 or 7 months ago and have been hooked on them ever since, their 'progressive metal' as what people call the genre shows that Vessel and his band members can perfectly flow down multiple genres of music, and they extract as much value as they possibly can by branching their music in every way. The messages that Vessel brings are (to me) of the beauty of hardships - every one of Sleep Tokens songs is an iceberg of an iceberg, there's layers of information in the lyrics that entwine together as a bigger picture. The use of religious material to portray this tantalizing and toxic relationship Vessel was once in; the damage it caused, and his ability to reshape what otherwise would have just been a song about a break-up, into this 'Follower betrayed by their own Deity' kind of vibe. It's incredible! People can always relate to pain, those who have been hurt generally flock to artists who they can relate their pain to, especially ones who have grown from it; to me (and to many others I can imagine) it is beautiful to witness someone we perceive as 'more successful' go through the same pain we are in, and the ways in which they came out on top - that hardship we experienced doesn't make us feel so alone anymore, and it gives us living hope that we too can come out the other side. I see the cultic curtain Sleep Token displays as just that, a curtain; in reality I find their music and their music group to be rather therapeutic. Granted there have been questions about whether or not Sleep Token is considered to be a Christian band or not given the religious material used in the making of their songs and albums; but I myself don't feel like I've strayed from the path of god simply because I admire the message of their songs or use the term 'Worship' - if anything the use of the religious material may even help others seek religion simply due to it's usage and familiarity in Vessel's vocals. He takes his life's hardships and blankets it in this image of divinity that is lyrically brilliant and emotionally soothing - which surprised me for a metal band, ahah! I loved your insight and the ways in which music can be perceived by others, and I admire your ability to question the different views of others while also respecting that the whole world doesn't have to see eye to eye in order for an agreement; it is truly refreshing. You've earned my sub, and I wish you the best!

I agree that Vessel wants what he should not wisely want. The majority of humans seems to desire their own path and therefore fall. The trajectory of Sleep Token and Vessels music leads to personal power and a choice to change himself. The entire discography is this pathway. And Euclid (final track on TMBTE) is the reward. And what a reward it is. Vessel is my musical hero. Jesus is my overall hero. There is a sense of reconciliation (innermost) that this discography has resembled to me and hence, ignited my inner growth in a huge way. While I owe every success to God, there are people placed on earth to bump us into Gods path or not. IMO, ST has bumped me TOWARD God because my own erroneous acceptance of matriarchal hypocrisy has been a serious issue. And this music has provided a pathway AWAY from toxic feminism and matriarchal hypocrisy. I am eternally grateful to God for being alive and listening to ST while also heeding Jesus teachings at Mass, in the Bible, and in personal prayer. Be well!

I've been a Christian for a while, and I struggle to understand the purpose of think pieces like this. You make valid points, don't get me wrong, but yeah, pro-Christ will always be more valid than not-pro-Christ. I don't get it. Should I focus on the fact that Jesus is not explicitly glorified, or should I just appreciate the talent... Also, the figures, "the patron demon," as you called it, are very akin to video game bosses that you defeat to reach the next level. I mean, there is so much gamer culture in Sleep Token that such an angle needs to be addressed if one is doing a deep dive... They poetically tell a story of real issues about abuse, depression, etc., across three albums showcasing genre-bending talent (using incredibly tame imagery given their "metal" label) and i'm supposed to be like "well if he didnt fornicate, and he knew Jesus he probably wouldn't feel that way"?... you can scour their entire catalog and make videos in which you critique for failing to hit the mark, or you can see what marks they do hit.

So you know, I've never had to delete a comment on my channel yet. TH-cam does that automatically based on who knows what - it's happened to me many times and I know it's immensely frustrating. Also know that if you include a link in your comment, it'll be held for review, but not deleted. Then it's up to me to allow or not (I pretty much always do unless it's spam). Thanks for commenting and watching!