SUNDAY DROP - SPIN # 132 FROM THE R'NR WITH RYLO RECORD COLLECTION
How do we select the record that we spin every week? My ideal way in the future will be to spread out a few albums on the ground and let the kids choose but for obvious reasons, that system of selecting a Sunday Spin won't work just yet. They are 5 (almost 6) and 3 years of age. Even though they are very respectful to the records, mostly because they are amazed by how it all works, they aren't old enough yet to be trusted with an LP in hand. Soon our eldest will be asking to drop the stylus himself and that will be a proud day!
I tend to look at our collection through the Discogs app and it has a feature to shake it like a magic eight ball. It will select an album for you from your collection and sometimes I use this feature. Other times, I will flip through the collection and feel the urge to write about a certain album. You should consider downloading the Discogs app to keep track of your collection, as it becomes a great way to keep tabs on what records you do or don't have. If your collection is small then it's a great time to start cataloguing your records. If your collection is large, just start slowly as it might become a bit daunting. I managed to do my discog app adding when cleaning the shelves and it became therapeutic in a way. I was able to look at each record and hold it, remember things about it and sometimes you forget just what you have until you do something like this. It feels like it has been 8 months since this week's spin was selected and I've been contemplating moving it up the order ever since because of how much I love this album. I'll dive into a bit of 'suspected' lore on this one and let me know if I get too carried away.
Before agreeing with myself not to do it, I even had the crazy idea of spinning the Sleep Token trilogy of albums over a three week period. I then thought that might be a bit too much for people that don't like this band. Part of me wanted to do it anyway but I'll spread out the albums over the coming years. I decided to start, in my opinion, with their best album and one that I keep coming back to. It was a close contest in 2023 for which album was my 'Album of the Year' winner. It was between this one and Avenged Sevenfold's 'Life Is But A Dream...'. I love both of those albums and traally find it difficult to choose. I keep coming back to both of them and would love to hear what our readers think of either of them.
Sleep Token are believed to be a band based out of London, England but their identities are still unknown to this day. There is speculation of their identities online, however the band have never confirmed a single thing. Considering that, 'Take Me Back To Eden' is their third album released and we still have no idea who they are, it's extremely impressive. Ghost are another band that managed to do this for quite a while before in house fighting brought down their hidden mystique. Hopefully fans can accept that this band want their identities to remain hidden and can continue to release fantastic albums in the future. Sleep Token are about to go back on their tour called 'The Teeth of God' tour, across Europe and surely have been cooking an album up in their downtime this year. I have all of my fingers and toes crossed that they will announce a new album in 2025 and kick off that tour in Australia.
The line-up consists of: Vessel, a scorned lover who has experienced the highs and lows of a relationship that is no longer. The back and forth over the initial albums leads Vessel to question life and to find anything, something to take away the pain he feels. Along comes an Ancient being or God, known as 'Sleep' to assist with Vessels' wants and desires. We don't know who Vessel really is, other than the fact he loves someone and (slowly) accepts that he can no longer be with them over the course of three albums. The albums can't just be about the back and forth between an ex, as some people believe. I look at the evolution of the band and believe it showcases the back and forth between Vessel and Sleep instead and their constant struggle to relinquish or gain power over one another.
Maybe at first he has doubts about giving himself over to the unknown, but as time goes on, he realises that he doesn't actually have a choice. 'Sleep' knows that Vessel is so desperate to have someone or something accept him and take his pain away, that he will do anything to keep Vessel alive. Maybe Vessel sees what will become of him in the end and in doing so accepts his outcome. 'Sleep' might even be seen as doing Vessel a favour, but in return, pays the price of being consumed entirely. That's why this band has got a lot of attention and the anonymity combined with a lack of confirmed lore leaves us all making up our own minds. I have even stripped it back and looked at the songs as coming from a person with a split personality, heavy and light, constantly going back and forth with their internal battle to survive.
Night Kat Kiz and the kids are being very patient while I try and explain the band to you. I'll have to drop the stylus at some point but If you compare the album masks he wears along the way, you will pick up that the mouth becomes visible and there is more red shown around a slowly opening, or as I like to think, decaying mouth area. The next story or album will be very interesting, in terms of direction and story line.
Vessel Mask - album progression
The vocals by this unknown singer are something else and he is supported by some extremely talented musicians in the form of II, III and IV. The singer behind Vessel has one of the most hypnotic and wide ranging vocals that I've ever heard. There are clear moments designed across this album to make you stop and consume what you are hearing and other moments to get you singing out loud.
Now, II is their drummer/percussionist and definitely has qualities of Jazz training somewhere. He is technical and truly gifted with his abilities, often reminding me of a combination of Danny Carey from Tool, Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater and The Rev from Avenged Sevenfold. III is the joker/crazed looking bass player, standing languidly on stage. He has a towering presence and looks as though he has recently escaped from the mental asylum. IV is the bands guitarist and the new outfits for these members finally gave them some personality. The first two albums had them in pretty basic outfits, other than Vessel, who would have a different white mask. IV is the punk rocker showing off the patches on his leather jacket. I like that the end of this album and tour cycle allowed each member to grow their own imagery and personality.
The packaging and quality put into this release by Spinefarm Records is of a high detail. You can tell that they took their time with this release and the only thing that I would have included would have been lyrics to go into the booklet. They have a drawing for each song but that's it. Maybe a large poster of the band would have been pretty cool too. You can see that the band has clearly laid out their track listing to complete the story and put a lot of thought into our listening experience.
I can't give you a favourite track from this record because there isn't a weak song on either LP 1 or LP 2. If you enjoy different genres - rock, hard rock, metal, djent, heavy metal, dance, prog rock, jazz, funk, classical and anything else that I might have missed, then you will enjoy this album. I was listening to this one a few months ago now with headphones and got a chill down my back at moments. The pressing we have is mint in terms of sound and after a good brushing we are ready to 'worship'.
The brooding sounds of 'CHOKEHOLD' eerily fill the silence of our loungeroom area and it feels like we are being prepared for battle. The album is full of great lyrics and still feel that they really should have included them in the LP booklet to make this release perfect. Once you listen to the album in full and pay attention to the lyrics, I would be very interested to hear your take on what is happening. The opening lyrics are, "When we were made....It was no accident. We were tangled up like branches in a flood. I come as a blade....a sacred guardian. So you keep me sharp and test my worth in blood". Once you listen to his voice and the slowly building music - you will already be hooked. I find that there is so much to hear on each song and you really need to pay attention to the different layers of musicianship. From haunting vocal harmonies to pleasantly uplifting piano playing by Vessel. This song was the first single released to the public.
'THE SUMMONING' might be the most well known track on the album and it even managed to break into the Triple J's Hottest 100 here in Australia for 2023. I think this song got a lot of people interested and accepting that metal or bands within the metal scene can be different. They can be more progressive and delicate, yet still earn the praise within the heavy metal community. A lot of people don't like this band because of the labels they are given by critics and fans. I'm lucky that I appreciate good music and don't care about labels, so if you tell me this band is now classified as folk r'nb, then I'm all in (cos we don' give a fuhh). If you have time to check out the music videos for the songs, they match up with the drawing each track has in the included booklet. I've included a few below images below and the link to this tracks you tube video - click here.
'GRANITE' and 'AQUA REGIA' truly balance out that heaviness and offer something completely different in terms of the instrumentation. When Vessel starts singing....Sulfur on your breath, Granite in my chest", I can feel his passion for what he is doing in his voice. At one stage I had the opening bars of 'AQUA REGIA' for my alarm clock. I had to quickly change it to something else because I wanted to hear the whole song and not hitting stop. I didn't know this before reading up on this song but the title also means Royal Water, because of its ability to dissolve gold. How cool!
Want to get your face ripped off now? Ok, so here is the heaviest and most brutal form of vocals on the entire album. Does it come out of left-field after the relaxing sounds of the previous track? Absolutely it does. Vessel comes to shred skin off your body with his uncompromising and dark vocals - or is this actually 'Sleep' talking to us now through the human shell (most definitely). 'VORE' has some of my favourite lyrics and I included some of these on our very first 'Let's Get Lyrical' Instagram post for you all. "Will we remain stuck in the throat of gods? Will the pain stop, if we go deeper? So let's get swallowed whole. I wanna go where nobody else will ever go".
The album gives you a chance to breathe again on LP 1's final track, 'ASCENSIONISM'. This reminds me so much of a moment in a Broadway stage production. Think of 'Wicked' for example, where the witch rises into the air before the intermission curtains come down, signaling an end of Act I. 'ASCENSIONISM' is that moment on the album and one that will give you goosebumps if you choose to wear headphones for his one. It showcases a lot of different genres and must be such a fun song to sing live for the band. "Who made you like this? Who encrypted your dark gospel in body language?" This will be the moment you ask yourself....is this now a hip-hop album? Well no, but it's impressive that they can incorporate so much within 1 hours worth of music. Such a lovely ending to LP 1 and time to swap it out with LP 2.
The opening song of what I call, Act II is asking you a very important question and one that you should not be afraid to answer. 'ARE YOU REALLY OKAY?'. Probably a comment you don't usually admit from a progressive metal band often, however the music paired with Vessel's voice is quite beautiful and showcases high levels of emotion. 'THE APPARITION' is up next and is quite anthemic also. As a listener, I feel this one is building up until the dam breaks at the almost 2:30 mark - "Why are you never real? The shifting states you follow me through. Unrevealed. Just let me go or take me with you". It is sandwiched between another trap beat style track in 'DYWTYLM', which becomes clear what it stands for. Imagine yourself standing in front of a mirror and asking yourself this question. It's important to try and love yourself and bring the best self you can offer into the world. You are good enough and if your not happy right now, you will be - whether it becomes a little bit or a lot.
We are now approaching the final side of LP 2 and the stylus is working its way into the sounds of 'RAIN'. I was blown away by the songs that lead to this moment and then you git hit with these last three tracks like Rocky Balboa pounding on some frozen meat in the freezer. If you've managed to come this far listening or reading along....then you will be hooked like we are on Sleep Token. "Nobody can say for certain, if maybe it's all just a game. When I open my eyes to the future, I can hear you say my name". I could honestly listen to his piano playing all day. I enjoy listening to this album through streaming in the car, but nothing beats the sound that wax gives.
Coming in as the longest song ever to be released by the band is title track - 'TAKE ME BACK TO EDEN' at over 8 minutes in length. It begins with the sounds of birds the feeling as if you have been transported into a garden (or back to the Garden of Eden possibly). I had a work trip last year down south and on my way through the township of Eden in New South Wales I was able to listen to this album. When I was leaving the city limits it was creepy because Vessel was screaming, "I have traveled far beyond the path of reason, Take me back to Eden, TAKE ME BACK TO EDEN". I think that when it comes to title tracks from albums that this would be in my top 5 of all time. Can you think of a couple of albums where the title track blows you away? I didn't realise until I turned this one up loud and realised that it repeats the opening line of opening song, 'CHOKEHOLD'.
"And I don't know what's got its teeth in me but I'm about to bite back in anger. No amount of self-sought fury, will bring back the glory of innocence"
The closing track to the album, trilogy and possibly all the EP's that came before those requests us to listen for 5 more minutes. 'EUCLID' or possibly the idea of Euclidean Space is a space or distance between points or co-ordinates. Considering the bands use of longitude and latitude, it makes sense. There are quite a few full circle moments by referencing songs that have been on early EP's and albums, creating a full circle moment for the band.
I can see that our children have loved head banging along to this one with Daddy and there were even moments that Night Kat Kiz didn't mind either. I'm pretty certain that I caught her headbanging or at least tapping her index finger on her leg in support of the music. I think I now have the nod of approval to see Sleep Token play live when the tour Australia again. A cute moment on Saturday night was when our daughter wanted to dance with me in the kitchen to the new Dream Theater song - Night Terror. It absolutely goes off and will be instantly added to our collection when able to purchase it next year.
Our children have been coming up with funny games this week and I was able to catch them pretending to be Ghostbusters with a torch. They would turn off the lights and run around the house pretending to catch them. Funny, because before they did this, Night Kat Kiz and I had not shown them any of the Ghostbuster movies. They must have picked it up from a cartoon where they pretend to wear the proton packs. The kids also did the same outside with the cricket stumps and I can't wait until I can lift things fully and run around again. I'd say that I'm 90% there, just not overdoing anything because I don't want to cause a set-back in myself. I almost forgot the moment our littlest Rylo woke up with her flannelette 'jammies on. The problem was, at some point in the night she had managed to turn her buttoned shirt backwards. She woke up laughing and said "Silly Mum", as if it was Night Kat Kiz who put her shirt on backwards! Funny kid.
I hope that you enjoyed this week's spin on the turntable as much as we did and you are willing to come back next week. I love spinning records and it's something I try to do at least once a week. I write this weekly blog because I want our children to love music as much as I do. Congratulations on 'CluckCluck' winning our NRL tipping competition and sporting the champion ring on her finger. Also, well done to Night Kat Kiz and our daughters team - Penrith Panthers, for winning the Premiership four times in a row! Ridiculously good to be a Panthers fan right now. I thought it was great when the Sydney Roosters won back-to-back comps for my son and I. If you are able to add a copy of 'Take Me Back to Eden' to your record collection, don't delay! I feel there won't be too many copies left soon and people will be crying because they missed out. Hug your loved ones and enjoy the good times. Maybe you've been able to watch some of the big race today and finding some time for some much needed R'nR.
Until our next Spin.....
Vessel, II, (Top row)
III, IV (Bottom row) ~ Sleep Token
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