Sleep Token - Even in Arcadia (2025)^{Release ID: 59537}

I have been informed by many different subsections of the metal community that I am supposed to hate Sleep Token. That first statement alone is heresy since some don’t even consider Sleep Token to be metal at all! Sleep Token are a plant; a piece shoved into the spotlight by RCA records to bring heavier sounding music to the masses with the inclusion of smooth synths and trap beat percussion instead of the standard symphonic strings and glitchy industrial embellishments. I’m told to hate them because of their appearance; their anonymity and the world that they have created through their music videos, comic strips, visual novels, etc. I’m told to hate Sleep Token because Vessel’s vocals sound devoid of harsh screams and intensity, and the instrumentals are not these technical showpieces with blistering solos and relentless percussion. And, most of all, I’m told to hate Sleep Token because of their poser fanbase.

Sleep Token are an enigma, combining the universe building of Coheed and Cambria with the insufferable fanbase of Taylor Swift. This band has somehow managed to become more than just their music, while still living in a fantasy world that is isolated from our own. Audiences want to know more about the people behind the masks. Vessel and company are a lot like wrestlers; they need to live and breathe the character that they portray in the ring even when they are not wrestling to not break face. Imagine a meet-and-greet with a heel wrestler and they turn out to be the nicest guy in the world. Wouldn’t that…sour the image for you?

Anonymity becomes ever more important in 2025 with the rise of artificial intelligence and deepfakes. And Sleep Token, despite their best practices, still managed to get doxed by a parasocial fanbase prior to the release of Even in Arcadia. Some do not value other people’s privacy, and it does leave a bad impression on the rest of the Sleep Token fanbase that’s for sure, but what does Sleep Token have to do with it? They were the ones who were the most affected. Why should they be held accountable for their own audiences’ actions?

I’ve spent a lot of time talking about the entity of Sleep Token and not their music to start this review off (kind of proving my own point there), so let me just say this: Sleep Token are a better progressive band in 2025 than Dream Theater. Those who saw my review of Parasomnia know what I mean, but to those who missed it: Dream Theater have been running on autopilot for the last twenty-five years and have not done anything remotely progressive since Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. Meanwhile, Sleep Token have taken a genre known for intensity, technicality and anger, and transformed it in a way that is atmospheric, moody and calm. Some elitists will suggest that Sleep Token need to be gatekept, but they aren’t really a metal band so what is there to gatekeep? Progressive music should defy categorization after all.

2023’s Take Me Back to Eden was a challenging listen. I really dug the promotional singles like “Chokehold” and “Vore” and ended up turning around on “The Summoning” later. However, the back half of that album was far too safe for the experience that the band was trying to portray, so I ended up enjoying it, but not over the moon for it. Even more so, the pop fusion made for a truly troubling experience, since pop and progressive music are not really known for their bountiful crossovers. Even in Arcadia had me worried with its promotional singles since I didn’t really like any of them, especially “Caramel”. I was worried that, like with Architects some three/four years ago, my defense of this band was going to be crushed by a lackluster project and that my review would be discarded in a cesspool of “sLeEp tOkEn aReN’t aCtUaLlY mEtAl” whiners.

The album opener, “Look To Windward” is perhaps the perfect encapsulation as to why so many people have a distaste for Sleep Token as a musical act. As a pop song, eight minutes is way too long for casual TikToker’s to stay engaged without a Subway Surfers video in the background, and as a metal song, the guitars and thall breakdown take up less than one-third of the song length. “No matter how you approach Sleep Token, everyone loses!” seems to be the consensus from both commercial and critical positions. But doesn’t that defeat the progressive argument? What happened to “it utilizes unorthodox songwriting featuring complex harmonies, multiple sections […] additional instrumentation such as keyboards, and influences outside of metal music?”

When I revisited the singles prior to this album and I tried figuring out why I didn’t enjoy them as much, I quickly realized that it was Vessel who was the problem. My favourite Sleep Token moments are the ones that use dynamic range, like on “Dangerous” to draft a story. So much of Even in Arcadia falls into this very monotonous vocal delivery that does not contribute in the way that it once did, even when the instrumentals are djent-y. Part of the reason I had to stop reviewing hip-hop albums on a regular basis was because not one could tell me a good story through the music. I understand that hip-hop is a very different genre from rock/metal since the words are given more importance than instrumentals, but if that’s the case, then why not just make it spoken word?

Getting back on topic, the instrumentals are a mixed bag. Songs like “Past Self” have okay introductions and set high expectations, only for the direction to just sit idly like a drone or doom metal album, not really evolving past its fundamentals. “Caramel” has this colossal soundscape that transitions from reggaeton beat, to a pop/djent chorus before concluding with alternating blackgaze riffs with double bass drum, open power chords and harsh screaming. Those screams are surprisingly quiet, but it beats the alternative of sounding like an auditory mess. Piano and strings are on the menu during “Even In Arcadia” as the albums interlude before the album takes on an uplifting texture the rest of the way. I for one was very surprised by main guitar lick on “Gethsemane” and reinvigorated the optimism for the final two songs on the album.

I for one am very appreciative of Sleep Token for how unapologetically not metal they are. The guitars serve more as textural emphasis in the same way that vocals work on an Unreqvited album. However, Sleep Token’s songwriting has taken one major setback on Even in Arcadia. This album has a lot of dynamic variety, but it always goes in one direction: soft to loud. This album has nothing like “The Summoning” or “Vore” which start intense and diminish in volume and intensity as the tunes progress. This is either a gross miscalculation on the part of the band and Carl Brown, or a lame excuse for songs to get more attention on streaming platforms like TikTok. Imagine the sheer horror on the face of some young teenager who just discovered Sleep Token through some viral trend, only to look up more of their music and be walloped across the face by “Vore” or something equally as intense. So, the formulaic calm opening to every song does feel like a wasted opportunity.

I liked Take Me Back to Eden two years ago but ended up going into Even in Arcadia with mixed emotions. And I came out the other side perhaps more mixed than when I went in. Is Even in Arcadia a good album? Yeah, probably. Is it as good as Take Me Back to Eden? Certainly not. And yet I want it to be. Not because it deserves it: the album is littered with curious design and ignorant omissions. But because of the inevitable push back this album is going to get. I discovered Sleep Token five years ago not through Tik Tok, but through metal forums that I frequent filled with people that would not shut the fuck up about them. Even going into this album, forums were littered with violent screeching from grown children who know metal music so much better than you or I. And you know what? Despite the album’s quality, I’m going to recommend it anyway!

This will be one of my most polarizing scores I’ve given to an album in quite some time; chances are I will look back on this review when the next Sleep Token album comes out and I still will not agree with the rating. Perhaps it is a bit of Stockholm syndrome on my part, so please consider this recommendation with some caution, but Sleep Token are making metal music for a new generation. It will not be for everyone, but in a great depression of Octane metal, with Sleep Token coming out and making something completely original, it deserves respect, if not admiration.

Best Songs: Dangerous, Gethsemane, Infinite Baths, Emergence, Even in Arcadia