I should not like Sleep Token..  Thanks to my bastid friend, Graham (Deepsend Records), who recently sent me this band to check out as he had recently started to like this band.  He actually told me, “Frank, you’re probably not going to like this”.  Not only did I love this new album, Even In Arcadia – the band’s fourth album, I procured their back catalog as well.  I am a bandwagon Sleep Token fan and IDGAF.

The band hails from England and are anonymous behind their masks.  Due to their increasing popularity over the years, not even 10 years, RCA Records took notice of Sleep Token selling out major venues and signed them to release this new album.  The best way I can describe this band is what I recently told my friend Jason “Slips Majinsky”:  The band vacillate from super heavy Meshuggah inspired djent off-kilter chug to 80’s alternative The Cure.

Opener “Look To Windward” at over seven minutes gets into this ethereal type of beginning.  The beginning soft music is reminiscent of if you’re at a wake.  It’s funeral funeral-inspired sounds.  Clean shoegaze-type of vocals with clever and catchy tones start things up, with atmospheric musical sounds.  Listen to this with headphones on – immersive.  This definitely has that depressive 80s alternative UK sound to a T.  The sounds and variety of backing vocals all get louder and louder until that 3.20 Meshuggah chug kicks your teeth in.  It does not last long, but Christ ,it’s heavy AF.  The undercurrent of bass guitar is bludgeoning.  There are so many instruments happening with a piano, too, and the drumming is killer when that rhythm section kicks in.  This was the first song I ever heard from the band, and it knocked me over, as does the end of this song, which is ruthless!

“Past Self” is a very soft-sounding tune with the vocals coming in over a variety of musical sounds and soft drumming, which sounds electronic in nature.  Whip out that Casio Keyboard and go wild, folks. The vocals are sing-songy.  High and the beat is pure 80’s 80s-inspired alternative.  Depressing, emotive and the repetitive nature of this works well.  The multitude of dual-layered vocals and Christmas sounds of this song make this a very calm and serene song.  The cadence will get caught in your head and will not leave – damn you Sleep Token.

“Provider” starts with isolated vocals, and the atmospheric keyboard synth sounds provide the depressive backdrop until those electronic drums enter the fray.  The vocals get faster paced until about midway, the metal hits.  The vocals remain clean-sounding, unlike some of the heavier parts, like on the opening song, where there are raspy, growly screams.  The rhythm section at the 3.37 timestamp is excellent, with the keyboard sounds coming in.  The song gets into calm and serene territory once again before the heaviness returns, then back into the calmness.

“Infinite Baths”, at over eight minutes, ends the album, with more of the ethereal sounds and vocal patterns we have previously heard, on this and that seems to be a signature pattern of the band. The dreaminess continues onward and upward with the other main instruments kicking in.  The harsh chug at the 5.19 moment will throttle your body and whip it over the moat faster than 0.0 seconds.  The black metal-style raspy vocals are terrific, and this moment is so heavy, again, think Meshuggah.  Ruthless, calculated, and cold.  That is how the song trails off.  Pretty cool, as the album starts serene and ends brutally harsh.

Sleep Token fuckin’ rocks, plain and simple.  Even In Arcadia is up there as one of the standout and original albums for 2025.  If you enjoy their previous albums, you will no doubt enjoy this.  It’s the same type of pattern. The band knows what they like and this weird ass eclectic doomy, 80’s alternative, shoegazey, dreamy, heavy AF chugfest-at times, has proven to be a homerun for the band.  Stunning band and release!

[Visit the band's website]

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