The Offering is the heaviest track on the album and packs a powerful punch early in the track listing. The guitar tone is excellent; balancing the harsh tone and heavy texture within a processed sound. Sleep Token seamlessly integrate the guitars into their song writing so that it doesn’t feel jarring transitioning into the piano and vocal led verses. The outro on this track is particularly fantastic. Having a section of music that is so out there and feels quite removed from the rest of the track, in this case, works incredibly well. This breakdown is powerful with the huge sound produced from the rhythm guitars, whilst the melodies that float over it bring in a dark, haunting aspect. Sleep Token are clearly excellent in their use of instruments however, this album as a whole feels like its lacking some more heavy guitars. Or rather, it’s lacking variety in how they are used. The drama and dynamics the guitars can add, as seen in The Offering, could have been used to further emphasise other tracks.
The piano and vocal focus of Levitate produces a great dynamic change as the track follows on from The Offering. The track has a strong intimacy with the minimalism of the verses. As the track progresses it develops with the addition of backing vocals, instruments and pop style claps. The sudden burst into heavy guitars is a surprise. It adds an extra punch to the song. Dark Signs continues the personal feel. The low bass synths and vocal line once again shows the minimality of their music. It places the focus on the vocals which deliver such an emotional sound. The introduction of such a range of synth textures and melody lines in Dark Signs creates a full sound with busy undertones and yet, it doesn’t detract from the vocals. And of course, the heavy guitars in the latter half of the track give the sound an extra boost. These two tracks do feel repetitive in terms of their structure despite having quite distinctive sounds. The guitars, in some ways, feel like an afterthought. Added into the final sections of the tracks for a final boost of energy. Space isn’t given to the guitars that allows for expression to be produced from them.
- Thesoundboardreviews
