harleysjournalsblog

[harleysjournalsblog]

Recently I was given the amazing opportunity to become apart of a small magazine based in NYC. The magazine is called uptight magazine, I work with amazing writers, editors, photographers and as a small group we are definitely small but mighty. For my first piece writing for uptight I decided to write an album review of my favorite album from 2024. Thrown's debut album, excessive guilt. I absolute love this album, and the band, I'm actually going to see them later this year and I'm very excited,I’ll post photos and videos on my instagram and if I don’t write a blog post on here keep a look out on uptight’s website.

Heres the link to my review, if you could give it a read and share it, even give me some feedback back in the comments I’d be very appreciative

- Harley

[harleysjournalsblog]

Introduction post and 2025 shows

I haven't really introduced myself, and since this is the platform I will be posting on the most on I thought a little introduction would be nice.

So the basics, my names Harley, I'm 18, I'm from the UK and I really hope to become a full fledged journalist one day, hopefully within the music industry.

My favourite bands at the minute consist of Sleep Token, Thrown, In This Moment, Ghost and Muse.

I actually got to see sleep token earlier in December and it was such an amazing experience, seeing a band which means so very much to me.

and regarding my posting schedule, said schedule is going to be pretty much none existent, I work full time AND I have college to think about too, so actually finding the time to A) go to shows and then B) write about said shows is a task and a half for one person.

Speaking of shows, I'm attending a few next year. In the February I have Wage War and Set It Off, coming to a city very close to me, which is just extremely convenient. and then in April I'm going to the first Ghost concert of the new tour. I'm so excited to see the new ghouls and papa, I'm very invested in ghost lore if anyone wants to yap about that with me feel free.

In April I'm also seeing Thrown live, I've been listening to thrown for a little under a year, they were in a playlist Spotify made for me based on my music tastes and I can't remember what the exact song was but I liked it enough to continue listening to them, and now their one of my favourite bands, I actually not to long ago got a pressing of their newest album 'Excessive Guilt', it's such an amazing album and I can't wait to see them live.

And in June, my favourite month of the year for this exact reason, Download festival. I'm going for the full three days, I'm so excited to write about download, I'm personally really happy about the headliners and I'm not at all bias. Like at all.

Some fun facts about me, I'm very hyper mobile, and I collect vinyl, I'm currently at just under 90 if I've counted correctly, and I have the most amazing boyfriend who supports me through everything.

Anyways that's me :3

[harleysjournalsblog]

Sleep Token, Leeds UK, 02/12/24

Pictures from this ritual will be posted on my instagram linked on my linktree (Pinned post), updates for shows I'm attending will be posted on my Twitter (X) account, also in my link tree, I'm a beginner journalist trying to get a foot into the music/journalism industry, any support on my social media platforms would be greatly appreciated, and any CONSTRUCTIVE, criticism is more than welcome :)

The queues are what I could only describe as British, I even overheard a few people say "Were British queuing is what we do" and what better band to wait for, the lines thankfully were very well maintained and soon enough I was finding my seat and waiting for the opening act, Bilmuri.

They have such an amazing stage presence, Johnny Franck, the lead singer was nothing short of hilarious and had the audience in a choke hold from start to finish, regardless of starting twenty minutes late.

their music clearly came from a place of love, Franck even spoke of his personal reasons for creating the band, sleep token did such an excellent job choosing their supporting act, Bilmuri were such an amazing stage presence and they music, while vastly different to Sleep Token's music, fit so well for the concert and set the vibe perfectly for the beginning of the show.

At 9PM sharp, the night does not belong to god started, filling the arena with blue strobes and that unmistakable harmony that floods the stadium with emotion starts playing.

Vessel enters the stage from the left, that unmistakable confidence as he approaches the mic stand, the hauntingly beautiful vocals surround us all in what can only be described as a blanket of belonging, the night belongs to us after all.

The crowd erupts with huge cheers as III and IV make their way onto the stage, III clad in his iconic leather jacket and docs and his drop dead shirt, IV wearing his diva glitter jacket.

Almost as soon as it started, the night does not belong to god is finished and the immaculate drumming from II rings through the air, The offering. IV and III soon joining suit with their respective instruments.

Vessel's vocals once again create a blanket but its different, the layers and layers he creates with each song is immense and heavy, this time we can feel the anger and wanting behind his words, the raw energy they all have during this song is almost contagious. Vessel truly claims his catwalk, pacing up and down it for the entire show.

As we get to the heavier vocals towards the end of the song, vessel really shows his talent, his energy once again shown with the way he prances around stage.

Soon enough the drumming and backing vocals start for dark signs, this is personally one of my favourite songs in sundowning, I relate to a lot of what vessel speaks about in this song. the meeting of someone who you would have been better without, the alarm bells clear but ignoring them for love. Missing who you were before you met the one thing that ruined your life. The depth behind this song is so complex and hard to understand if you aren't already familiar with the band. vessel has such an interesting way of showing his feelings without directly telling us how he feels. Another heavy layer to the raw emotions that have already been shown three songs into the show.

The final song of Sundowning, Higher, vessel really shows of his capabilities with this song, his strong and ever prevalent voice ringing loud and clear through the drumming and III's forever weird chicken pecking.

the bass and guitar flow together seamlessly, vessels siren like vocals are mesmerising to listen too, another heavy layer of emotion floods the stage and soon after the audience, once again another song that you can feel comes deep from his very being. the heavy vocals and guitar at the end of the song show vessels already seething anger, the stage glows orange before suddenly becoming dark again.

we hear a voice, a voice we can only assume is sleep, she's telling us about something or other, she's real she's speaking too us...

the stage glows blue, Atlantic.

Another song that heavily resonates with my very being, the gut wrenching piano and his sobs piercing my very being with an un describable feeling. His emotions and feeling can switch so quickly, another very heavy and deep layer is added onto us as an audience, does he even know?

"So flood me like at Atlantic, weather me to nothing, wash away the blood on my hands"

My personal favourite part of the song is when it gets darker, deeper, faster the drums and guitar start screaming at us, urging us to understand, feel, know, love, appreciate everything we have, because it can be taken away oh so easily, we can take it away oh so easily. the stage glows blue, he cries, he begs he cries he begs, he begs us to understand, but what are we supposed to understand, his suffering?

soon after we hear the haunting melody, the beginning of Hypnosis, another son that it isn't hard to resonate with, vessels almost creepy vocals causing a feeling of unease throughout the arena, unease floods through the riff and words, the bass thrumming through the floor, Vessel is overtaken by his desire to bleed.

I think we all know what is next. Like that, a fan favroite by all means, "Do you like that?" The general consensus is yes.

Another son with a deep meaning, the third verse being a particularly deep one, its almost as if vessel is speaking with us directly, almost recounting the story as he lives it over and over again in his head, maybe he'll never escape it.

soon enough the track to alkaline starts, the song explores vessels complicated relationship with a potential past lover, he seemingly knows how much he wants her and he maybe even feels that they are a perfect match, this entire song feels possessive im my opinion, vessel openly admits that who he wants isn't perfect, but he himself isn't perfect, no one is. he knows what he wants and he won't stop at anything to get it, throughout the entire song Vessel shows off his vocal range with low growls and elongated high notes which leave the audience once again stunned at his pure ability.

By the next song, Missing Limbs, were all an emotional wreck, Vessel has acquired a white guitar and his perfect pitch is ever prevalent as he sings the heartbreaking lyrics, he tells a story with this sing, the worry he's put himself through, the heartbreak he's experienced, the life he's had. the mistakes he's made. you can hear the heartbreak in his voice, the slow, gently guitar and angelic vocals telling a story we all now know as missing limbs.

The stage goes dark again, and we hear a new voice, the voice of reason? This voice tells us about death, how we try to escape it, but how we are also so at peace with it.

After the speech from the voice the be beginning of Chokehold starts to play, and the logo shines red, a warming?

Vessel arrives back on stage from his stage lift (Elevator for those who aren't British) and immediately we are blessed by his heavenly vocals again, as per usual once the beat drops and the guitar riffs start to flow, vessel starts to interact more with the others, the presence that the four of them have on stage together is unmatchable, their energy bounces off each other and you can clearly see how much they all enjoy preforming together.

By the time Chokehold ends we all know what's coming, The Summoning and the shenanigans, the first half of the song was nothing more than were all used too, a little dance here, a little criss cross apple sauce there, but then IV's solo begins, vessel, like the ritual before, gets down on his hands and knees and IV makes himself comfortable, what we weren't expecting was for Vessel to become portable and start crawling down the catwalk with IV on his back, playing his solo, perfectly. It does make you wonder if they rehearsed that back stage.

As we're all recovering from the emotional turmoil of The Summoning Granite starts playing, Vessel once again gives it his all, telling us his story through words and lyrics that mean different things, ever the cryptid. the guitar and drums scream through the smoke and strobe affects, Vessels feelings and emotions clear in very word as the crowd screams along with their leader, we all gathered in worship after all.

Rain plays after, the soft beginning melody enchanting us all as vessel works through the song, the strobe lighting was truly amazing during this song, it added and amazing new dimension to experience the song too, during IV's part of the song III also joined in, finally breaking his muteness since the new masks. it was very sweet.

between rain and Ascensionism II was freed from his drum kit and gave away some of his drum stick, sporting his very fancy Adidas tracksuit bottoms.

Ascensionism was a ride, as it always is, Vessel was silently crying during some lyrics and you could truly hear the pain in his voice with each word, the Espera were amazing during this song, amazing during all the songs truthfully, but hearing them during Ascensionism was an almost out of body experience, Vessels pain and borderline screams only emphasised by the hauntingly beautiful music.

after Ascensionism we were treated to another criptic message, this voice sounding suspiciously like the late queen (Rip lizzie). this voice was talking about how unhealthy it is to be so emotionally distressed and alone.

Soon after Take Me Back To Eden started playing, Vessel's elegance and fire merging into one as his anger slowly overtook him as the song progressed, IV helping with the vocals again was a welcome treat.

Euclid was my favourite moment of the entire show, I'm sure if your reading this and are apart of the sleep token fandom you will have heard of project Euclid, this project is for there to be a sea of green lights created by the crowd for the length of the song, this was a massive success at lends, the green sea was so clear that the whole band must have seen it.

sleep token have come so far as a band and vessel has shown us his capabilities for heavier vocals, I'm thoroghly looking forward to seeing them at download in June 2025, if you've gotten this far I just want to thank you for reading through my yap, and forever. Worship.

any spelling or grammar errors please ignore for my own mental sanity

[harleysjournalsblog]

my link tree to my twitter and instagram, it would be much appreciated if you could support me on these platforms too!! :)