For those who've followed The Winery Dogs' drummer Mike Portnoy over the years, you're likely aware that he's often been free on social media sharing his wide-ranging musical tastes. And in a recent posting, the drummer shares an early contender for 2023's Album of the Year, at least in his opinion.
Portnoy is certainly not alone in heaping praise upon Sleep Token's newly released, Take Me Back to Eden. The album has been yielding viral singles since just after the turn of the calendar year, with fans flocking to social media platforms to share their favorite Sleep Token moments or covers.
So what did Portnoy have to say about this buzzy new album? "This new Sleep Token album is Insane! Completely genre-bending," writes the drummer. "I hear glorious shades of Tool, Deftones, Opeth & Leprous amidst all other crazy musical twists and turns. Absolute contender for Album Of The Year for me! Bravo," then adding a raised hands and clapping emojis.
Though the mysterious masked act led by vocalist Vessel is often lumped in with progressive metal, fans have flocked to the new record noting its soulful intonations. So far, the songs "Chokehold," "The Summoning," "Granite," "Aqua Regia," "Vore" and "DYWTYLM" have all been issued as singles. At one point in February, all but one of Sleep Token's new songs had ranked in Spotify's Viral Top 50 chart.
In addition to Portnoy's new words of praise, Corey Taylor has shared his fondness for the band. In March he named them as one of the three newer acts that were "carrying the flag for heavy music." And earlier this month, Taylor compared the upstart outfit to early Slipknot.
“When I first heard Sleep Token I was like, ‘What the hell is this, man?’ They, to me are one of the few new — I’ll call them metal, but there’re so many different levels and layers," he said in an interview on the Allison Hagendorf Show. "There’s pop elements, there’s jazz elements… I love the fact that nobody really knows who they are. I love the fact that they don’t want to be known.”
“There are hints of early, early Slipknot there," he continued. "At first we were like, ‘Nope. You get nothing. This is what you get, you figure it out. We’ll let the music speak for ourselves.’ When Alicia was like, ‘You have to check this out,’ I can remember sitting down and just going, ‘Jesus, this is really good. It’s stuff like [Sleep Token] that gives me hope for the future.”
READ MORE: Why Is Everyone Talking About Mystery Band Sleep Token?
You can see what all the fuss is about when Sleep Token return to the road in Europe next month. North American dates will follow this fall. Be sure to get your tickets to see Sleep Token here.
