July 2023 Feature Release - The Gateway Edition

So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.

This month’s feature release for The Gateway has been nominated by Saxy. It's the brand new "Take Me Back To Eden" third album from one-man London alternative metal/pop outfit Sleep Token.

https://metal.academy/releases/44769

I'm glad I was able to recommend this album for the feature release, even though I already know that this is a seriously contentious album through its first couple of months in existence. There are a lot of people saying that this album is too basic for heavy metal standards, while simultaneously berating Take Me Back To Eden for it's frankly generic pop soundscape. There is very little that I can disagree with either of those statements, but I also think that the magic of this record occurs when those two elements are mixed together.

By enlarge, Take Me Back To Eden is a progressive metal album first with its elongated song structures, so I can imagine why someone who approaches this from the position of recent Bring Me The Horizon output, they will feel left out. The record certainly contains a lot more character than your generic Imagine Dragons clone, which is why I continue to hold it in much higher regard than many online critics. I can see faults in the armor and I think part of that is just because this hybrid of sounds is so new that they still need to be worked out from the core. But I highly recommend Take Me Back To Eden as an experimental rock/pop hybrid project just to see where everyone lies in this paradise.

3.5/5

I've done my review, here's its summary:

Having just come back from headlining a tour in Australia, Sleep Token started getting ready for an immense comeback that is Take Me Back to Eden! Pretty much half of their album was released as 6 singles one by one in the 5 months leading up to its release. Apparently, this album concludes a trilogy that began with their first two albums. Mixing heartful melodies and reflective lyrics with metal guitars, Take Me Back to Eden breaks the boundaries of heavy music and pays off with graceful strides. Throughout the album, you can hear the heaviness of djenty alternative metal often switching to pop/R&B, and it works better than other bands who have attempted that mix. This is best displayed in the singles and longer epics, complete with vocals and instrumentation all ranging from soulful to brutal. With all that beautiful greatness, we have a lot of emotional complexity to explore that will have you wanting more once you try it. I was given a chance to check out the hype, and it was well worth the ride!

5/5

I am most definitely not the target for this and I got nothing from it. From very early on all I wanted was for it to end but it's over an hour in length and that hour seemed interminable. Don't misunderstand, it seems well performed and produced, but it just isn't my thing at all. For me, this style of alternative metal is merely bland and uninteresting, failing to elicit any interest whatsoever.

I'll have to give it a 1.5/5 for enjoyment (or lack thereof), but I'm sure it's worth far more to those better disposed to it's charms. That's just not me and I recognise that failing as being all mine.

From very early on all I wanted was for it to end