Latest news with #Vessel
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Who are Sleep Token? The UK rock band with their first UK number 1
Prior to this weekend the name Sleep Token may not have meant anything to you, but now you'd be hard-pressed not to know the UK rock band sweeping the charts in surprising measures. The UK group have made history with their new album Even in Arcadia, which hit the number one spot in the UK and has topped the US Billboard Chart. Sleep Token have an air of mystery about them perpetuated by the fact they are masked at all times, even when they perform live. Here is everything that you need to know about the group and who they are. Sleep Token officially have two members known as Vessel and II, the group's leader singer and drummer, they are the only two to be given songwriting credits in the band. The group also have a series of touring members, who are also masked on stage and whose identities have remained anonymous. The touring members are known as III (bass guitar), IV (lead guitar and backing vocals), and Espera (backing vocal trio). Sleep Token debuted in 2016 with their first single Thread the Needle, which was followed by their debut album One. The group went on to release a second EP titled Two in July 2017 after they signed with record label Basick Records. The group signed with Universal's Spinefarm records in 2019, and they went on to release their debut full-length album Sundowning in November that year. They have since signed with RCA Records and released albums Take Me Back to Eden before launching Even in Arcadia in May 2025. The group have declared themselves as acolytes to an entity known as Sleep, which is why they are called Sleep Token. The band have spoken often about sharing "His message" with their fans. Sleep Token pride themselves on their anonymity, and have done very few interviews to ensure that their identities remain a mystery. The group's lead singer Vessel spoke with Metal Hammer in May 2017, one of the band's only interviews to date, where he spoke about the reason behind the group's anonymity. "Our identities are unimportant," Vessel told the publication: "Music is marketed on who is or isn't in a band; it's pushed. prodded and moulded into something it isn't. Vessel endeavours to keep the focus on His offerings.' Vessel also said: "How we got here is as irrelevant as who we are – what matters is the music and the message. We are here to serve Sleep and project His message." The publication asked Vessel if he was worried that the band being masked would be seen as a "gimmick" by music fans. To this, Vessel said: "The standard concept of gimmickry is none of our concern. We are here to deliver a message; touch people in their hearts and subconscious minds. Soon, regardless of cynicism, you will all be followers."
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
With 'Even In Arcadia,' has Sleep Token cracked the code for metal in the streaming era?
The bestselling album in America last week came from an experimental British metal band that hides its members' faces behind cloaks and cybersigil masks. They call their anonymous frontperson 'Vessel' and backing band by roman numerals. They profess to be emissaries of a deity called 'Sleep,' and title songs like 'The Night Does Not Belong to God.' They don't do interviews and seem to loathe fame. Despite all that cryptic lore (or perhaps because of it), Sleep Token's RCA Records debut 'Even In Arcadia' crushed the Billboard 200 this month, breaking genre streaming records en route to become the bestselling hard-rock album since Metallica in 2023. 'We knew coming in that we had something pretty big, based on the incredible engagement and live dates,' said RCA Records' chief operating officer John Fleckenstein. But 'Arcadia's' chart-topping debut 'went way beyond even those expectations. This is so much bigger than even we realized.' They've had company atop that chart recently. The veteran Swedish hard-rock group Ghost — also evilly masked and grimly aliased — claimed its first No. 1 LP with 'Skeletá' in May too. Both bands got there after years building devoted, insular fandoms, while also serving as entry points into the genre for newcomers. Is it a coincidence that these bands hit No. 1 in the same month? Or is there something chaotic in American culture that's craving brutal, escapist and lore-driven rock again? 'Metal has been around for a long time, the scene is very vibrant and loyal and it's never gone anywhere,' Fleckenstein sad. 'But the metal world has been centered around album sales and physical purchases. With Sleep Token, we're seeing what we don't ever see — streaming numbers from fans acting like pop consumers.' 'I wouldn't be surprised if we started seeing some babies named Vessel in a year,' Fleckenstein said, laughing. 'That's the kind of fan investment here.' The last time two metal-aligned acts hit the top of the Billboard 200 chart in the same year was in 2019, when Slipknot and Tool each earned a third No. 1 album. Both of those acts are veteran bestsellers and have headlined festivals for decades. The fact that Sleep Token and Ghost arrived with their first Billboard 200 bestsellers in 2025 suggests that there's a changing of the guard in the genre, where still-rising acts can hit chart milestones last seen in the nu-metal wave of the late '90s and early 2000s. First up in May was Ghost's 'Skeletá,' the sixth album from the band led by singer Papa V Perpetua (a.k.a. founder Tobias Forge), with a backing band of Nameless Ghouls. The band's satanic imagery is campy; its sound is indebted to '80s chuggers like Judas Priest and Pentagram, like on its recent single 'Satanized.' The band, signed to L.A. indie label Loma Vista, released its first album in 2010 and hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 2022's 'Impera.' The band won a Grammy for metal performance in 2023 after four nominations. 'We are, at the end of the day, an occult, pop, satanic sort of rock 'n' roll band meant to entertain a group of people who are already down with that stuff,' Forge told The Times in 2022. 'This is the world that you hide in after school. And now there's someone coming in there trying to … evolve? It's disruptive.' 'Skeletá' topped the chart with 86,000 units in its first week. With 89% of that figure coming from sales, rather than than streams, they proved that a Swiftian array of physical media could triumph — they offered 15 vinyl variants of the album. It was the first hard-rock album to score a band's first Billboard 200 win since 2015. Sleep Token's 'Even In Arcadia' reclaimed the spot for metal two weeks later. The London-based band is still officially anonymous (though the band members' identities are widely debated online). Its enormous, melancholy and melodic sound pulls from electronic music, jazz, hip-hop and ambient, landing between the dazed crunch of Deftones and growl of Meshuggah, sharing Gen Z's genre-agnostic outlook. The band's neo-pagan masks, gilded broadswords and necrotic body paint make them look more evil than they sound (they've covered Whitney Houston's 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody'). But they parlayed their goth-opera imagery into a ravenous fandom, coming out of the pandemic to sell out arenas and major festival dates around the world. The band first hit the album chart with 2023's 'Take Me Back to Eden,' and the Hot 100 debut in March with 'Emergence.' They currently have all 10 songs from 'Arcadia' on the latter chart, with 'Caramel' cresting at 34. 'Arcadia' topped the Billboard 200 with 127,000 units, but the mix of sales and streaming suggested a different dynamic than the album-buying metal audience. The band sold 73,500 albums in its opening week, including 47,000 vinyl LPs — the most of any hard rock band in the modern era. But it also hit 53,000 streaming equivalent albums (nearly 69 million on-demand official streams) in its first week — the most for any hard rock album, ever. 'What we're seeing are superfans who are not just passionate, they're streaming the album eight, nine, 10 times, which looks more like the ways people stream the biggest pop stars,' Fleckenstein said. He called the timing right after Ghost's chart-topping album 'coincidental,' but said that 'seeing fans be so adventurous, getting a taste for this music, it wouldn't surprise me if you see other experimental and courageous acts like them.' He attributes Sleep Token's chart performance to the ferocious online community the band built by being absolutely opaque about its identity, but ever more intricate in its aesthetic. The band's Reddit page, 166,000 members strong, is a daily torrent of fan tattoos of the band's logo, Vessel cosplay outfits and memes of Sleep Token lyrics dropped into scenes of 'Twilight.' Vessel's lyrics seem disquieted by the attention, though. On 'Caramel,' they lament, 'This stage is a prison / Too young to get bitter over it all,' and on 'Damocles,' they drolly admit, 'Well I know I should be touring / I know these chords are boring / But I can't always be killing the game.' That mix of emotional candor and personal distance feels enticing in an overexposed TikTok era. 'We are all living in world where very few things aren't disclosed, and I have to think that there's some level of exhaustion with that,' Fleckenstein said. 'Sleep Token really opens up possibilities for an alternate world, that allows people to create something bigger in the separation. The idea of privacy, true freedom of creative thought, maybe this all is part of a reaction tipping towards that.' On the ground, L.A. record store owners say they're seeing these big acts turn the curious into genre lifers. Sergio Amalfitano's independent record store Midnight Hour in San Fernando specializes in punk, metal and others harsh genres. 'Metal and adjacent heavy genres in general are having a huge moment currently,' Amalfitano said. 'Sleep Token and Ghost are mainstays here in the store. They seem to draw in the older metal fans as well as the new wave of fans. These are the entry level bands for a whole generation, opening up the genre to an influx of supporters.' Amalfitano wouldn't be surprised to see more metal and hard-rock bands make similar climbs up the album charts soon. With modern hard-rock acts like Turnstile, Spiritbox, Poppy and Knocked Loose earning Grammy nominations, and metal bands like 200 Stab Wounds and Sanguisugabogg injecting young energy to classic heavy styles, they're speaking to a broader discontent within society through harsh, relevant sounds. 'These bands definitely have a crossover appeal, but at the same time, also a very rabid fan base,' Amalfitano said. 'I was in Mexico City when the new Ghost record came out and the lines were massive. There's a very big appeal all over the world, and it's not just a U.S. phenomenon.' It's likely no coincidence that this wave is coming amidst a right-wing revanchist American government, though. 'A conservative wave in society tends to lead to a counter-wave of expression,' Amalfitano said. 'When it was the satanic panic, there was glam, heavy and black metal. There's always a response to mainstream politics, and music is the pendulum swing in effect.' While Ghost doesn't have an L.A. date on the books for its 2025 arena tour yet, Sleep Token will play the Forum in September. Fleckenstein said the band has just begun to catch up to the huge demand for an appropriately-scaled live show in the U.S. 'What hasn't happened yet is bringing fans together in person,' Fleckenstein said. 'They're leaning into the album in a parasocial way, and what we're excited about is the impact when fans are in a room with other fans.' It remains to be seen how long this moment will sustain, though. Morgan Wallen, a Billboard 200 chart fixture, has since reclaimed the top slot. RCA still sees plenty of room for Sleep Token and its ilk to win freshly curious audiences, and conjure even more metal acts up the charts. 'Our job is just getting people to go down the rabbit hole,' he said. 'There will be a lot of new fans that grow up on Sleep Token, and I'd love to see this usher in a new wave. It's a paradigm change stretching the boundaries of what metal and pop can be. I don't think there's a stage big enough to contain what they have in their brains.'
Shafaq News
23-05-2025
- Shafaq News
Stolen artifacts head home: Met repatriates Iraqi art
Shafaq News/ The Metropolitan Museum of Art recently announced that it will return three ancient sculptures to Iraq, dating from 3rd to 2nd millennium BCE. They are estimated to be collectively worth $500,000. The items are a Sumerian vessel made of gypsum alabaster (ca. 2600–2500 BCE) and two Babylonian terracotta sculptures (ca. 2000-1600 BCE) depicting a male head and a female head, respectively. The museum said it was making the return in 'cooperation with the Manhattan DA's office,' and that the return had come after the Met had 'received new information' amid the investigation into Robin Symes, a dealer accused of being a member of a network that traded in looted artifacts. A press release from the DA's Office said that the Symes investigation has resulted in the seizure of 135 antiquities valued at more than $58 million. The release also noted that two of the items were seized by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit (ATU) earlier this year. The two Babylonian ceramic sculptures are thought to be from Isin, an archaeological site in Iraq, and were looted in the late 1960s. The Manhattan DA's office noted that Head of a male was then smuggled out of Iraq and was in Symes's possession in London by 1971. The next year, Symes sold the sculpture to the Met; it remained in the institution's collection until it was seized by the ATU. Vessel supported by two rams was first offered to the Met in 1956 by Switzerland-based antiquities dealer-trafficker Nicolas Koutoulakis, 'who informed the museum that the Vessel had been found at a site near the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur. The Vessel then passed through multiple private collectors and dealers, including Symes, before permanently entering The Met's collection in 1989,' according to the Manhattan DA's office. The museum's press release said the vessel was gifted to the museum in 1989 by the Norbert Schimmel Trust, named after a longtime trustee who died in 1990. The museum noted that 'it appeared on the Baghdad art market, was purchased by Swiss dealer Nicolas Koutoulakis by 1956 and later acquired by Cecile de Rothschild.' 'The Met is committed to the responsible collecting of art and the shared stewardship of the world's cultural heritage and has made significant investments in accelerating the proactive research of our collection,' Max Hollein, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's director and CEO, said in a press statement. 'The Museum is grateful for our ongoing conversations with Iraq regarding future collaborative endeavors, and we look forward to working together to advance our shared dedication to fostering knowledge and appreciation of Iraqi art and culture.' 'We continue to recover and return antiquities that were trafficked by Robin Symes,' District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. said in a press statement. 'That is a testament to the hard work of attorneys, analysts and investigators who are committed to undoing the significant damage traffickers have caused to our worldwide cultural heritage.' H. E. Nazar Al Khirullah, Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to the US, described the leadership of the ATU as 'instrumental' in the recovery of his country's looted heritage. 'We also appreciate our strong and ongoing partnership with The Met, whose commitment to cultural preservation complements our shared mission to safeguard the world's antiquities,' he said in a press statement. Symes's legacy of trafficking antiquities includes 351 antiquities returned to Greece after a 17-year legal battle, two antiquities worth $1.26 million returned to Libya, 750 artifacts recovered by Italy, a limestone elephant returned to Iraq, and an alabaster female figure returned to Yemen, all in 2023. Symes was convicted of contempt of court for lying about antiquities he held in storage locations around the world in 2005. He was sentenced to two years in prison, but only served seven months. He died in 2023.
Edinburgh Live
22-05-2025
- Business
- Edinburgh Live
Local Edinburgh brewery to launch new city centre bar in time for summer
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Leith's local brewers, Pilot, are opening their first ever boozer in the heart of the capital. The bar, named Vessel, opened its doors on May 22 at 73 Hanover Street, serving a variety of beverages. Those at Piloit argue the Vessel will be a 'celebration of the industry friends Pilot have made across 12 years of brewing.' As well as showcasing their own thirst quenching bevies, the bar will also stock and champion other local products. Pilot's cult following will be able to enjoy their iconic Peach Melba Sour amongst many other tipples. Pilot have promised to create an environment filled with fun and adventure. Food is available at the pub with an emphasis on sharing dishes. And if beer is not your thing, there is a curated list of wine and cocktails available at the Vessel, with spirits from Port of Leith, Holyrood, Electric Spirit and Buck & Birch amongst many others found behind the bar. Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sentstraight to your messages. Patrick Jones, co-founder of Pilot, said: 'Vessel has been 12 years in the making. We've wanted to open our own place since day one, but we wanted to be in a position to open exactly what we wanted. Covid got in the way for a while, but we're now absolutely delighted to be opening the doors at Vessel, a small slice of Leith in the heart of Edinburgh. 'We always wanted to do something more than a chipboard bar and 12 taps and Vessel is exactly that. It's a beautiful space where you can come and work with a coffee during the day, grab lunch with friends, or stay and have a beer or two into the night. Sign up for Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox 'Fitting out a venue has been a massive learning curve. Thirteen years ago, when we were studying brewing, I don't think Matt and I imagined that one day we'd be debating the perfect shade of yellow for a coffee machine. However, in the true spirit of Pilot, we wanted to do as much as we could ourselves. 'We think it's been worth every bit of effort though and can't wait to invite people into our own island of independence, just off George Street.'
Spectator
21-05-2025
- General
- Spectator
Round the world in a vast, unlovely barge
Ships change not just their location but their identity throughout their lives. Medieval trading vessels became warships at royal command. The Queen Mary was a troop ship during the second world war. Ian Kumekawa, of Harvard University, has had the clever idea of following a modern ship through its metamorphoses and asking how these changes in use reflect the economic conditions of our time. But this ship is no Queen Mary. He calls it the Vessel, because it changes its name and owner so many times. Without its superstructure, no one would give it a second glance. It has neither an engine nor a rudder. It had to be mounted on a heavy-lift ship or towed to reach it destination. It is, in fact, a simple steel barge, originally little more than a hull, built on the outskirts of Stockholm in 1979 and sold to Norwegian owners. But it has moved extraordinary distances: first to Scapa Flow in Scotland, then to Gothenburg in Sweden, before being taken to the Falkland Islands, a Volkswagen factory on the German coast, Manhattan, Portland Bill in England and Onne in Nigeria, where it is now laid up, rusting away. Meanwhile its superstructure has provided accommodation for British troops, Gastarbeiter, American and British prisoners and oil workers in the Gulf of Guinea. The many vicissitudes of the Vessel, along with a sister ship that shared some of the same journeys, provide Kumekawa with a springboard from which he can jump to lengthy discussions of the global economy. It is a history of economic flux.
