“They’ve worked so hard for this”: Inside the biggest summer of Sleep Token’s lives

As the enormous black curtain drops, it’s hard to properly get what you’re seeing at first. Whatever it was you were expecting, you’re miles off. On Rock im Park’s Mandora Stage, there’s a structure that looks like something Skeletor would live in: massive, craggy, beset with holes, inside which masked figures do their business, as imposing as it is impressive. From above, a stalactite lighting rig gives the impression of being in a crystal cave, while hundreds of other lights ensure that rarest of things at a festival, creating an atmosphere and a world far away from the muddy ground underfoot. In the middle of it all, an enormous logo sigil flashes in a thousand different combinations. Then thousands of gallons of water start pouring out of it, and you realise the true scale of imagination at play. Yes, it’s a waterfall in the middle of a festival stage.

Even in Bavaria, Sleep Token are a phenomenon. Vessel might not talk, much less in German, but mute language barrier or not, as Sleep Token kick off their new series of mesmerising rituals, the message is clear: nice festival, we’ll obtain it.

One week before they arrive at Download to do their debut turn as headliners, sitting on equal pegging with Green Day and Korn, Rock im Park is the first place in the world to get a look at the band’s live incarnation of Even In Arcadia. It’s quite the place for it. Held in Nuremberg’s Zeppelinfield, part of the city’s old rallying grounds built by the Nazis in the 1930s, the festival – with a Reading & Leeds-styled twin, Rock am Ring, some 250 miles northwest at the Nürburgring race track – is staggering in scale. Over on the larger of the two main stages, across the weekend Slipknot, Korn and Bring Me The Horizon will headline the whole shebang, while the rest of the bill brings together an army of rock and alternative’s biggest and brightest: Biffy Clyro, Lorna Shore, IDLES, Jinjer, Spiritbox, The Prodigy, Poppy, SOFT PLAY, Amira Elfeky, Zetra, Creeper, thrown, A Day To Remember…

As the clock nears 11:30pm and showtime, following a devastating performance from Korn on its sister stage, the not-inconsiderable field housing Mandora is so packed that officious German security guards attempt (somewhat vainly) to action a makeshift one-way system to get in. By the time the eerie wind chimes that make up the band’s lengthy intro tape begin their 10-minute twinkle – and successfully pull your focus into Sleep Token mode – even the bratwurst stands at the very back are unreachable.

When the curtain finally drops and Vessel appears for the first time, shiny new armoured shoulder-pad and all, many things occur at once. Chiefly, that any suggestion that Sleep Token are unfit for such a billing is laughably inaccurate. In tandem, perhaps as the result of a desire to obliterate that sort of talk, you’re also struck by the sheer ambition of the whole thing. If previous victories at Wembley and The O2 were simply bigger versions of what they’d done before, extensions to an existing house, this is a teardown and rebuild, founded on knowing exactly how big it’s possible to go, and then going beyond.

How we got here has already been picked through. Short answer: it’s complicated. How has a band who give no names, speak no words, communicate in riddles and prefer to take a hard road with their music (rather than dealing in straight-ahead, digestible bangers), joined generational bands like BMTH, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance and twenty one pilots entirely, it appears, from within their own bubble?

Doesn’t matter. The point is it’s happening right now, and it’s staggering. Welcome to Arcadia. You’ll never leave.

Hours before showtime, Followers are already preparing for the evening’s ritual. Some spot the pink Arcadian flowers garlanded around the stage fittings, reading it as a clue for what’s about to happen. Still, nobody knows what to expect. Devotion is a constant presence, though. Take Jennifer, who’s travelled from Bremen in Northern Germany to be at the festival today, decked out in Sleep Token make-up.

“I’m excited to see how the new album will be expressed onstage,” she says. “I’m excited to see their new appearance since they changed it a little bit. I’m already a little bit nervous because of the excitement for the new show.”

For Elena from Leipzig, even this vast stage isn’t enough for Vessel. “They should be on the other stage, they deserve it!”

“I just think Sleep Token are very unique,” she elaborates. “‘Unique’ is the word I go for, because they’re mixing a lot of genres, and it’s always a little bit different with every album. It’s so special every time they finish up a new album. If you listen to one Sleep Token album, you listen to, like, five genres. I love that. And when they make something new it can be anything, and that’s the mindset I go into listening to their new albums with.”

Roaming the arena talking to fans – and shirt-count in the crowd as showtime nears is close to Iron Maiden levels of coverage – it’s soon apparent that the German phrasebook isn’t essential. There are people here from everywhere, gathered for the first look at Sleep Token emerging from the latest chrysalis into their latest form.

“We decided we just had to be here, and we’re going to Download next week as well,” says Amber, who’s travelled here from Scotland with her mate Kat. “This is the first show of the whole new era, so it’s a special thing. It’s really nice to be a part of.”

“The new album is a lot bigger, sonically, in some areas of the songs. Their music is made for big arenas and big spaces,” adds Kat, on what she’s expecting from the gig tonight. “I’m really excited to see what songs they choose off the new album to play live as well. That’ll be interesting. I think Emergence, especially, that’s going to be such a big sing-along. I think everyone in the crowd will be singing that one.”

Scotland, however, is a mere short commute in the wider congregation who have turned out today. Already staking out a spot on the front barrier with a good seven hours to go before Vessel will appear, one group of fans, joined by their shared adoration, represent both the global connection of Sleep Token’s flock, as well as the tight community within it.

Having met through the band, the meet-up is just as big a part of this as the gig itself. One of the group, Nefeli, has travelled from Greece, while another, Taylor, has come all the way from Kentucky to be here. If that sounds like a long way, try telling it to Kai, Ariana and Carden, who have come all the way from Australia. In case this didn’t say enough, they’ve all got the band’s symbols painted on their nails. That’s a long way…

“Yeah, but it’s worth it!” says Ariana. “I’m excited for tonight. You can already see some of the flowery stuff on the stage, there’s pink leaves all around everything. I think visually, it’s going to be special. Their live shows are always incredible. “I saw them 21 times last year.”

Sorry, what? You’ll have to repeat that. It sounded like you said you’d seen them…

“Twenty-one times! We did the whole European tour last year, basically. Their live shows are always amazing.”

“These guys are always trying to outdo themselves, with their music, their production, the way that they handle themselves onstage. So I think this one’s just going to be really special,” adds Carden. “Especially with it being the first proper look at the new album. They’ve worked so hard for all this, and you can tell they’ve put so much emotion and dedication to into producing it.”

“The new songs are incredible,” says Kai. “I cannot wait to see the small changes they make to the live version compared to the album versions, because there’s a few changes in old songs. I really like it when they play some things live, because they’ll have an additional guitar riff or different guitar melody or the background vocals...”

All this travel and insane amount of rituals attended is fandom enough. But there’s a connection with one another between these friends that wouldn’t have existed without the band.

“They helped me find these friends, the best friends I’ve ever had,” says Carden. “I actually feel like I belong somewhere for the first time in my life, and I would travel anywhere to get to see my favourite bands with my favourite people.”

“This band has helped me find everyone here, I’ve got a second family now,” adds Ariana. “They’ve helped me through so much. Sleep Token’s music has just been like a Band-Aid over a wound, they’ve helped me through a lot of tough times. I have a very deep, emotional connection to the music, and I feel very comforted by it. And then through the music, I found all of my amazing friends, who have just helped me through a lot of the stuff as well. I feel very comforted, very loved, and I really appreciate that.”

This deeper connection with the lyrics crops up talking to almost everyone here. More than the thousands of pages of lore and mythology that make up various forums and subreddits.

“It just really has a deep, deep meaning to me,” says Jasmine, from Karlsruhe in south-west Germany. “I got a tattoo for Alkaline. Their lyrics are just really from the heart. They are able to put in lyrics what I’m thinking, but I can’t put in words.

“They’re just something between genre that is very special. They’re not really metal, not really rap, not really pop, not really anything. But you put everything together, and the lyrics make themselves special. You can quote every single word from them.”

It’s a similar thing for Jennifer. “I discovered them while I was going through a break-up, and their songs really helped me through it, because I could really relate to the lyrics. They were really speaking to me, and the whole mystery with the masks and such, it was so intriguing. That’s why I was fascinated, and I stuck with the band. It’s been a few years, and now I’m here and seeing them live for the fourth time.”

“I especially appreciate their lyrics,” says Simon, who’s here today from Ulm especially to see Sleep Token. “I really like the music, but I especially like them for the lyrics. There’s a really deep meaning to it all, and if you get into the lore you can really connect the points.”

There’s another equally universal truth with everyone we ask: whoever Vessel may be, it doesn’t actually matter. The expression is all.

“I do not care,” says Jasmine. “I don’t want to know what he looks like. I don’t want to know his name. He is Vessel, and that’s it. That’s none of my business.”

“It’s all about the expression and what he’s putting out there,” says Ariana. “I really like that he can be Vessel, and have it as pure as that, and not have anyone know anything else.”

“Who do I think Vessel is? That’s his business,” says Scottish Kat, matter of factly.

“We don’t need to know,” says Amber.

Kat ponders a second, then adds a plot twist that could have been hiding in plain sight in the avian features of the band’s recent artwork...

“Maybe he’s Jerry the flamingo…”

As you wait for the curtain to drop, you do begin to wonder. The roof on ideas appears to be non-existent.

Either way, it’s impressive, on a scale that marks Sleep Token out as bona fide big boys. That they can appear so vast while still remaining so completely enigmatic is worthy of applause. As is the fact that they can engage such a huge crowd without the need for such trifling things as talking to them. Recalibrated for such big settings, like when Bring Me The Horizon graduated, it feels like only now, here, are you seeing the band’s true face for the first time. Even if that face continues to be just a chin beneath a mask.

One week later, things have only got bigger. At Download – where the band’s compound next to the Apex Stage is surrounded by strict signs forbidding any kind of photo or video – a member of the band’s management team reveals that Germany was just a taster. Even with a stage show as big as they gave Nuremberg, it was about 25 per cent shy of the full deal at Download Festival. In the roof of the stage there is, apparently, about 60 tonnes worth of kit to make the show go off. The last bits will still be being packed onto lorries and sent on their way as the Sunday sun begins to rise.

It’s an even more impressive show than Rock im Park. On an even bigger stage, Vessel looks even more like a comic book character come to life. His new stagewear helps him dominate the space – and if you’ve ever been lucky enough to stand on Donington’s main stage, you’ll be aware of just how huge it really is up close – while songs like Caramel are far, far heavier than on record, their more Deftones-ish qualities shine through, rather than feeling like sections among everything else.

It was always going to feel like a special moment. A British band getting the top job at Donington will always be cause for celebration. But it feels different for Sleep Token just because they’re such a strange phenomenon. They haven’t taken the tried-and-trusted routes of their forebears – and now contemporaries – in Linkin Park or My Chem to get here. In fact, at times they seem to have actively resisted chasing things. Their success has often felt like they’re running to keep up with themselves, as if every venue they pick has hit capacity so quickly that they seemed to have undersold themselves.

This doesn’t feel like a one-and-done moment of taking a big swing and somehow getting away with it. This is the new reality, and it’s massive.

In all this, there’s a moment of subtlety that speaks loudly indeed. As the band finish, and silently wave their gratitude, among the giant stage scenery and lights and flowers and house banners, the simplest of gestures: Vessel for one second makes a heart with his hands, and allows a proper smile. It’s just about the clearest message he’s ever sent.

Who is Vessel? Who cares. He’s won on his own terms. Here’s to the next round…

This feature originally appeared in the limited-edition Sleep Token Kerrang! zine.

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