Sleep Token - Blood Sport (from the room below) (pianist reacts to metalhead friend’s suggestion) 

Ive never heard Sleep Token before.... 100% converted, holy... that haunting pain 😢

Vessel wears the mask as a protection for himself, and a protection for us. It allows him to be fully vulnerable without being perceived as himself. The new mask is absolutely beautiful in comparison to the one in this video.

If you're gaving trouble merging the beauty of the song with the image of Vessel........ remember that there is also beauty in darkness....... there will always be duality......

Such an incredible song, from the heartfelt lyrics to the raw emotion in Vessel's voice. God I love Sleep Token

Vessel needs a mask to be this raw and intimate in front of an audience. The mask itself follows metal genre aesthetics, so it's not distactive for people deep in that sector. Sleep Token music, especially the lyrics, is not feelgood stuff, they revolve around failed love, toxic relationships and problems with accepting reality and self, so the mask is not feelgood stuff either.

As a lifelong bedroom musician... this is music that just makes you want to play more music

The fact he is wearing that mask and singing a beautiful song is EXACTLY the point. ❤

Please do AQUA REGIA next by Sleep Token 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 such an AMAZING SONG!!! Love this channel! Keep it up boys 🤘🏻🤘🏻

The one from Sundowning never gets any recognition 🥺 we need more recognition of that masterpiece too…

I think the discomfort and the alien appearance is an art piece to say "don't idolize me, I am not a hero, I am not a villain, I'm just a creature" he wants you to think of his music as its own entity

Sleep token in general gives me beauty and the beast type vibe and I think that's what I love so much about them. As creepy as there appearance may be it makes the music and emotion that much more beautiful to every song. Personally I don't know if I would have felt the same if I were just looking at a regular person singing this. I think that tension and uneasy feelings highten the experience and emotion you feel

ST ARE PURE GOLD, they leave you with every emotion going, talent, gift, feeling, rawness, humility& genius WORSHIP❤

Please do more Sleep Token. Their range and the freedom they allow themselves in their music is amazing.

The mask reminds me of Japanese spirit masks, because of the white and the red markings, I personally think it's bloody beautiful

The vulnerability and pain in this song is priceless. His voice and his look is with the music is a unit that gives you the spiritual experience. Worship!!!

I was introduced to this band when they supported Architects in Nottingham, UK last May. I was immediately obsessed. They're amazing live and the emotion, the lyrics. Ugh, they're beautiful 🥰

Vessel is a golden soul, he is one of the nicest human beings out there, along wit REN ❤🙏😌

There's a lot of rumors and mystery to vessel and what happened in his past. It's rumored that he's been through a lot of hurt and pain and able to express it through his music and lyrics. I'm typically into heavier music but I have appreciation for Sleep Token, and incase anyone is interested in knowing, SPOILER HERE!: anyone who's interested in knowing his identity behind the mask, it's not hard to find.

YESSSS! I'm so glad y'all did this one! Really enjoying you two! Keep em coming! Aqua Regia next!!

Vessel the vocalist writes all their music except the drums. Their guitarist and bassist are pretty much just there to perform. Vessel is really something else

The pain is beautiful beyond the aesthetic. Love ST!

Oh cool YT yeeted my long-ass comment 😡 Basically the dudes in Sleep Token paint themselves black to cover any identifying marks, don’t use names (other than Vessel, II, etc.), and wear masks to conceal their identities because they want the focus to be entirely on the music and not the people playing it. Vessel in particular has also expressed through statements at shows (spoken by a computer) that he wears the mask because it allows him to feel vulnerable enough to make art like this. If you search “the room below speech” (he did an acoustic set called The Room Below as well) you’ll find it. At the current US shows there are interludes that seem to be Vessel talking to the mask. It’s gone through several iterations over the years, and was upgraded this year to a new design. I know the original mask (not the one in Blood Sport and honestly it’s pretty unsightly so DO NOT RECOMMEND LOOKING) had runes for ST on it, and the current mask (plus the one in this video) have the band’s logo on it, which I’m guessing is also some sort of rune. Maybe someone can help me out on this part? Vessel has done one interview in 7+ years (I linked to it in my aforementioned yeeted comment, but look up “sleep token interview” and you’ll find it) and it sort of explains the origin (but very vaguely). Basically an ancient deity called Sleep (whose actual name cannot be pronounced by a human tongue) came to Vessel in a dream and promised him great things if Vessel followed him. Thus the band was formed, and their verses are tokens to Sleep (hence the band name), and the whole idea is to Worship Sleep (hence why you’ll get a bunch of comments saying “WORSHIP” on any Sleep Token video you do). Probably forgot something but rewriting this was a pain in the ass, so if I missed something or got something wrong then someone please jump in and correct me! Hope this helps! Keep up the good work 💜

Love the Chopin opening!

I was waiting for this one!

Soooo glad you picked this one!!!

I'm so happy you folks chose this one.

The crying whilst singing gets me 😢

I can’t even relate to this song, but it still makes me feel emotional. Such a good song

Beautiful intro! One of my favorite piano pieces…and yayyyy more Sleep Token!! Still hoping for Aqua Regia, and really any other Sleep Token! He might like some Muse as well as Matthew Bellamy is a classically trained pianist! 🙌🏻

That classic piano piece in the intro: I've had that in my head for a couple weeks now, but could not remember the name or composer. So thanks, very convenient to get the answer delivered to me like this.

The piano intro that ties back to the main melody of Jaws always gets me.

I loved the Tombstone reference! I got it before you even said it!

My favorite band

My theory is that this is Vessel’s background. Rather than a metal musician who started exploring his more sensitive side, he strikes me as someone who started as a solo vocal/piano songwriter who ventured into darker influences. He seems very natural playing this way especially live, and the harsher vocals/screaming came later in their discography (Sundowning was the first time he really committed to it on the song Gods).

Sleep token seem to like to mix beauty with the dark and macabre you know kinda like pleasure and pain. Always two opposing forces.

the room below is hell. the upper room and the room below

How my mother feels about the mask. I think it's so cute. Like a spider

I felt the same way when I saw the band the first time, thinking they look so different from how they sound, but then when you learn about them, it makes more sense.

Judson cover! 100%!!!! Would love to see it!!!!

I just saw them live this past Wednesday and he didn't play this song but he would run around singing and then go play the piano lol

Soreption shirt! As a Swede living 1 hour from their hometown, they are a really nice bunch.

"His mask is not a beautiful thing" Good sir, none of our masks are beautiful, but everyone wears one for a reason.

I love hearing Judson’s (sorry if I spelled it wrong) thoughts on this band. and I love that he loves this band haha. I can empathize with his feeling of having a hard time merging Vessel and his music. it’s still a trip to me too. I can only imagine what he’d think once he sees how Vessel moves to his music live. my interpretation is that it’s out of insecurity that he covers himself up. I fell down the rabbit hole of finding out who they all were so it makes it a bit easier for me when I watch them, but mask on or off, they’re all still so fascinating to watch as performers. I really hope one day they’ll let go of the disguise, but with this band I have no idea what they’re gonna do ever lol. the new album and some of the lyrics seem to point towards a reveal at some point. just no idea when. as always, a pleasure watching you two 🫡 especially in regards to Sleep Token

Id pay to see you cover that song!

Nice 😊

Excellent choice of the Tombstone line, ….there, now we can be friends…..

❤

The room below as far as I know was a one or two night intimate show performed by vessel and his three backup singers

Only way I would have changed this video is to have played him a 30 second clip from another song. Show him a part of a song that is just really heavy metal/strained vocals, and then let him react to this to see the contrast and range that Sleep Token has. Because it's crazy..

Enjoyed the video! It might be time for some more harsh ST songs ;)

the opening song reminds me of brothers in arms hells highway, if anyone remembers that game.

Guys, can i offer you a "Post modern jukebox" featuring Haley Reinhart. Something like "don't speak" , "black hole sun" , "lovefool"...? it's a jazzy covers on songs that anyone knows. It would be pleasure to see your reaction to this🙏🙏🙏

The Room Below may be an inversion of the Upper Room, or Cenacle, a room in Jerusalem reputed to be the site of Jesus’ Last Supper with his Apostles. Vessel seems to have an interest in the Western Mystery Tradition and magick, and the Upper Room is a significant place/concept/symbol in its philosophy and ritual.

Oh man if he thought that mask was wild, he should checkout Vessells new one lol, yall's banter is gold man!!!

The mask has also evolved from their EPs to Take Me Back to Eden ;)

AQUA REGIA has a jazzy feel to it.

Great reaction as always!! Go back to the beginning and do The Night Does Not Belong To God on their Sundowning album and just start from there is what I say. WHY NOT?🤷‍♀️😃

So he’s really a pop artist? I thought it was metal from one song I heard. Interesting.

The discordance of the ugliness of his mask/countenance and the beauty of the music is such a cool observation. I wonder if that was part of the intention with the video. I really like your videos!

This is a long shot but could you guys listen to halloween by Helloween the live pumpkins united version. The reason i request this song is because the songwriting and some of the musical peices sound right out of a beethoven symphony but heavy metal haha rock on fellas

Let me ask you Richard, have you seen Judson and Vessel in a room together, at the same time? When he mentioned the chin looks weird, they've got similar features I thought. Beneath that southern accent, Eureka! Judson = Vessel. Mystery solved! 😉 #WORSHIP

Do Ghost. Hard to recommend a single song since they’re all good pop/metal.

For anyone who wants a better idea of why Sleep Token exists, and why Vessel wears the mask - This was a message played at the end of The Room Below live show. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-E_Ki0ooxYr0.html

How about giving the songs a rating at the end?

Great music. Found ‘em about a year ago. Now it is time for you to be introduced to POLYPHIA. Start with the songs GOAT and PLAYING GOD. Enjoy!

Nice use of duct tape as a phone stand.

You really should do sleep token+loathe us it really you?

First

mR. BUNGLE ... IS JETSONs NEXT REACTION: {QU OTE UNQOUTE/TRAVOLTa!

Not have seen Gofather is a mortal sin.

They paint themselves to hide their tattoos and wear a mask to keep their identities secret.

They paint them black because a couple of the guys have lots of tattoos & they don’t want to be recognised.

Its not supposed to be beautiful, if you read the lyrics of most of their songs he is tortured beyond belief.

If you haven't even seen Tombstone I'm worried that the list may be too large of an undertaking 😅🤣

Actually their melodies are beautiful but not their lyrics or the meaning behind those lyrics tho Aqua Regia

Rain next time

This is literally the weirdest reaction. I've ever seen of a video to sleep token. Like there was literally no emotion in his expressions the entire video. All because he couldn't get past the mask. It's like he missed the whole point. The song is supposed to be emotional with the inflections of vessel's voice and his beautiful piano playing to go along with it. I don't understand this reaction.

It seems like a Jungian concept. A mask over the shadow. Jung did a lot of dream interpretation, and "Sleep" came to Vessel in a dream, telling him to spread the worship of Sleep and Vessel would get what he wants. Then there is a lot of Alchemy in the music. Im just putting out my opinion. ❤

I was put off by the image of the singer so that it was difficult to listen to after the first few bars~ but I did stay with it- in the end it way to repetitive and boring vocally for me.

I know vessel's identity, if you're interested.

This is what comes when you can't succeed in a boy band, you hire a publicist and they say put a mask on that face.

The basic melody of this song is nice but this “vocalist” is trying way too hard to be dramatic/unique. Gracious mercy son! That dialect and all the voice cracking is contrived as all my worries are real.

sleep token are just awful!