Architects Cheer On Sleep Token's 'Download' Festival 2023 Headlining Slot: "They Absolutely Should Be Headlining"

Architects presently sit as veterans of the UK metalcore scene, with their status as a festival headliner in their homeland seemingly secured.

Architects have shared their thoughts on Sleep Token headlining Download Festival 2025.

The masked collective were announced as one of the three headliners for next year’s festival back in September, joining Green Day and Korn.

Given that Sleep Token‘s rise took place on the back of viral online success in 2023, the longevity of the band is still a somewhat unproven commodity. As such, the recent announcement of their headlining spot proved to be somewhat controversial.

Speaking to NME earlier this month, Download founder Andy Copping defended the booking, saying: “I think it’s important for the festival to bring new bands through to headline.

“Back in the day, I did it with Slipknot. I did it with Avenged Sevenfold and Biffy Clyro. In 2023 we did it with Bring Me The Horizon. Now, every one of those bands across the world is perceived as a festival headliner.

“That’s what I felt this time with Sleep Token. It feels like we’re the first major festival that’s taken the bull by the horns and gone, ‘OK, it’s time. Its Sleep Token’s moment’. I know it’s going to be amazing for them, amazing for the festival and amazing for the fans.”

Now Architects, who are set to play Download 2025 themselves, have also weighed in on the booking.

“I’m very happy for Sleep Token, I’m very proud of them,” Architects frontman Sam Carter told NME.

Drummer Dan Searle added: “My first reaction was ‘How much are they paying Green Day?’ I’ve had these conversations with friends who work at Live Nation – when are you going to give KoRn, Deftones and Limp Bizkit their shot at headlining? It’s 20 years late!

“But Sleep Token absolutely should be headlining… I’ve said to those friends, ‘You would be idiots not to [book them].’ KoRn must be looking at it going, ‘Oh, we’re finally headlining Download, only took us 20 years! Who are Sleep Token? They’re already headlining it?!'”

Carter continued: “We saw KoRn this summer in America, and they definitely feel re-energised.”

Searle concluded: “That whole nu-metal thing is re-energised.”

When asked if it was heartwarming to see their ‘friends’ in Sleep Token hitting such heights, Searle said: “We’re not actually that close, to be honest, they’re very quiet guys. I don’t know how they’re processing it.

“I was speaking to a promoter, and he’s not seen a rise like it since Slipknot in the early ’00s. The fact that their biggest tune is a six-minute prog song [‘The Summoning’] is extraordinary in this day and age, when songs [apparently] need to be succinct and get the listener’s interests in the first 30 seconds.”