New Music Review: SLEEP TOKEN ‘Even In Arcadia’

SLEEP TOKEN 'Even In Arcadia' - COVER PHOTO

Rating: 9.5 / 10 Stars

SLEEP TOKEN is: Vessel (lead vocals), II (drums), III (bass), IV (lead guitar), The Vesselettes (backing vocals)

REVIEW – There’s an ancient saying carved into the walls of time: “Et in Arcadia ego.” It’s a phrase that whispers of beauty laced with mortality, paradise shadowed by truth. With ‘Even In Arcadia’, SLEEP TOKEN returns to ask the same question in their own language: Will you listen?

This fourth full-length release from the anonymous UK collective doesn’t merely continue the story—it redefines it. ‘Even In Arcadia’ is an immersive journey through serenity, chaos, love, and unraveling identity, all wrapped in the genre-defying soundscape that has become SLEEP TOKEN‘s signature. The record opens with “Look To Windward,” a sprawling seven-minute odyssey that shatters stylistic boundaries from the start. Radiohead’s Kid A, gospel choirs, cinematic strings, R&B falsettos, and a devastating metal riff all coexist in a single track—and somehow, it works.

“Emergence” is seductive and strange: a gospel refrain that melts into glitchy nu-metal and Vessel’s slick rhythmic vocal delivery. It’s the kind of song only SLEEP TOKEN could make—sacred and savage in equal measure. “Dangerous” leans heavily into Deftones-style emotional weight, both vocally and sonically, while “Past Self” leans back into delicate R&B territory, dreamy but haunted.

The already-acclaimed single “Damocles” is the album’s rawest lyrical moment. Referencing myth and fame, Vessel confesses exhaustion with chilling honesty: “Nobody told me I’d get tired of myself…” It’s a mirror held up to the burden of being worshipped and anonymous at once. “Caramel” injects irony into sweetness, layering a syncopated xylophone bounce under lyrics about toxic attraction, before collapsing into nu-metal thunder.

Mid-album standout “Provider” drips with D’Angelo’s influence before erupting into yet another crushing wall of sound. “Even In Arcadia,” the title track, brings everything into focus: yearning melodies, deep grooves, and a sense of existential ache that permeates every second.

By the time the album closes with “Infinite Baths,” you’ll feel baptized in chaos. Clocking in at over eight minutes, the track begins as ambient meditation, only to detonate in the most violent and cathartic breakdown the band has ever unleashed—before vanishing into silence once more.

With ‘Even In Arcadia’, SLEEP TOKEN doesn’t just expand their musical universe—they shatter its walls completely. The result is an album that feels like a spiritual ceremony, a confession booth, a mosh pit, and a love letter all at once.