A survey of self-identified Download Festival fans has shown that 88% enjoy Sleep Token.
Despite being a seemingly controversial choice, Sleep Token were announced to headline the UK’s biggest metal festival on 12 November, sparking an uproar. Some fans labelled the band as “boring” and “radio-friendly,” criticising their inclusion in the line-up.
However, our research indicates these complaints come from a vocal minority, with the vast majority of the 1800 plus fans who participated in the poll supporting the decision made by Andy Copping, Download’s key organiser.
One Sleep Token fan, Victoria Sarah, shared her experience getting into the band: “For people just starting to ‘try’ Sleep Token, I wasn’t a fan at first when I just listened to a few songs.”
She continued, “However, when you actually look into them, they’ve done something immensely smart. Their songs are ‘polyjamerous,’ meaning their entire catalogue changes genre throughout.”
Expanding on her initial reaction, she added, “I couldn’t stand them at first and wondered what on earth they were trying to do! But after spending more time listening, I realised it’s actually a story.”
Victoria explained that, for her, the lyrics and music form a thematic narrative that “completely blew my mind.” She began exploring fan theories on Reddit and became fascinated by how the band uses psychology to build a following, joining three albums into one cohesive story.
“Yes, some songs are slow, some are annoyingly screeching, some switch from melodic to R&B to screaming,” she admitted. “None of it made sense to me until I connected it to a story. Honestly, some of the Reddit theories are incredible and they drew me into listening to every song to figure out the story myself.”
She concluded, “There are still some songs I always skip though, won’t lie.”
Download Festival will be taking place on the 13th to 15th of June. Tickets are available at https://www.downloadfestival.co.uk.
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