Earlier this week, Download Festival unveiled a portion of their line-up for their 2025 event, including headliners Green Day, Korn, and, to the chagrin of many, Sleep Token. Fans on social media voiced their disapproval at Sleep Token's top-billing over acts like Weezer, Bullet for My Valentine, Jimmy Eat World, and the Sex Pistols with Frank Carter.
For instance, one user wrote, "Sleep token headlining is wild. They should not be that high up," on Download's Instagram post.
The next day, festival organizer Andy Copping spoke with NME about why he selected Sleep Token to headline.
"It was seeing their meteoric rise over the last two years that made me think, ‘This is a band that deserves to be elevated.'"
He then stated that he previously ushered acts like Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold, and Bring Me the Horizon to their first headlining opportunities.
“That’s what I felt this time with Sleep Token. It feels like we’re the first major festival that’s taken the bull by the horns and gone, ‘OK, it’s time. It's Sleep Token’s moment,’" he added.
Currently, the band boasts nearly 4 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Yet, their swift rise in popularity has not been without criticism, which is likely why Download's line-up has received pushback online. Anthony Fantano gave Sleep Token's 2023 release, Take Me Back to Eden, a 2/10 and concluded his review with, "It's bland, it's boring, and it's, frankly, annoying to listen to."
Eli Enis also went to great lengths explaining why Sleep Token feel distinctly "unmetal" in his piece "Metal's New A-List is Not That Metal", published on Stereogum. It's a long read that explores how Sleep Token's blend of djent, Imagine Dragons pop, and trap gained traction after Take Me Back to Eden's release. He summarized the band's lack of connection with traditional metal audiences as such: "Sleep Token almost feel like they’re using metal aesthetics and intermittent extremity solely to give their shimmering pop an alternative veneer."
Fantano and Enis later discussed this topic and the state of mainstream metal at large in an interview on the former's second YouTube channel.
It should also be noted that Sleep Token aren't out-of-sync with the rest of the Download Festival line-up. SpiritBox and Poppy are also playing, existing in a similar pop-metal sphere as Sleep Token, as are Meshuggah, from whom Sleep Token took much of their djent influence.
The festival will run from June 13 to 15, 2025 in Donington Park. You can find more information about it here.
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