Sleep Token + Empire State Bastard at Arizona Financial Theatre

SUNDOWNING: “Sundowning, or sundown syndrome, is a neurological phenomenon associated with increased confusion and restlessness in patients with delirium or some form of dementia. The term ‘sundowning’ was coined due to the timing of the patient’s confusion. For patients with sundowning syndrome, a multitude of behavioral problems begin to occur in the evening or while the sun is setting…”

From June to November, through 12 tracks and passing seasons, Sleep Tokenreveals an evenly-spaced, precisely-timed sequence of recordings that stand as both individual touchstones and carefully aligned musical pieces, all informed by a common emotional thread plus a flow of graphics and videos specific to each song; the end result is a digital and physical release of the album on November 22, with format choices embracing a bespoke box-set containing a variety of exclusive elements, including early recordings.

Starting with “THE NIGHT DOES NOT BELONG TO GOD,” the opening track on the album, the singles will be issued, in sequence, every two weeks at sundown (GMT). “The Night…” arrives on summer solstice when the sun is highest in the sky in London, descending throughout the subsequent singles releases.

What’s in a name? Calling your band Empire State Bastard is a statement-of-intent: riff after motherfucking riff, battering ram rhythms and feral vocals from death metal growls to black-hearted howls. The band: Simon Neil (Biffy Clyro) + Mike Vennart (Oceansize, Biffy live guitarist), probe almost every dark crevice imaginable of metal and genre-adjacent extremity. The pair would spend downtime on tour sharing the heaviest, most avant-garde or confrontational music they found. When embarking on their own sonic wasteland, Simon already had the band name, leaving Mike with a particularly grotesque challenge: what music could he write to live up to it? The result: “a spectrum of wide-ranging versions of pure sonic annihilation. I’d written songs which didn’t directly relate to each other, but I like to think they all make friends with each other.” Simon’s contribution to ESB is almost exclusively vocals: his voice more varied than ever, from shrieks and gasps to guttural death growls. Underpinning the duo is a drum performance akin to a runaway train, pulverising and grooving in equal measure. Mike programmed the initial drums, but the pair had a dilemma – who can play like Slayer legend Dave Lombardo? Simon’s solution? “Let’s just ask Dave fucking Lombardo!” He quickly accepted. So what’s in a name? Simon coined it, Mike defined it: “I set about making the most fucking poisonous vile music I possibly could, just unabridged hatred in musical form.” That’s Empire State Bastard.