Now that it’s out for everyone, I have been wanting to say something about Sleep Token’s Damocles since this morning.
I was able to listen to Damocles early cause of computer shenanigans, and so I joined discussions about the song early this morning.
From most folks, there was an outpouring of emotion, reading into the lyrics and feeling the stress/pain of what we can interpret from the message. When you’re a creator, and one day there’s nothing left, “the river runs dry”, then what are you anymore? I think all creators, performers, anyone, can understand that.
The line that stuck out to me as well was “I know these chords are boring”, cause as soon as more and more folks heard the song today, there were of course those who also didn’t like the song as much. They wanted something punchier. They hoped for something more interesting, more like this other song, more visceral. It just didn’t do it for them.
And that’s a completely valid opinion - Sometimes a song doesn’t do it for you.
But the people who kept saying “I’m disappointed” and “I hate it” etc. What were you expecting? Not every song is “The Summoning”, that takes you on a musical journey. Not every song is supposed to be “The Summoning” either. Sometimes the message is more direct. Sometimes it’s more simple. Sometimes that’s all it is. And there is still so much enjoyment in that.
What I find really interesting is this prophetic sense from these three songs.
Emergence. Fucking burst out onto charts everywhere, those bastards sold out their US tour in a few hours or less.
Caramel. Literally the build up was rife with toxic fans bullying anyone they could get their hands on for a taste of the band/music, and then the song was about toxic fans.
Damocles. Calls out the pain of having to constantly create and its aftermath, and apologizes for sometimes creating something “boring”. And some fans call the tune boring.
Vessel has predicted these behaviors so fucking precisely. Y’all with the bad attitudes honestly should feel called out.
In Vessel’s own words - “The ultimate goal is to engender a constructive emotional process within as many people as possible. Simply the basic concept of understanding oneself better, understanding others better as result.” I hope some folks take it to heart.
