Sleep Token has developed a cult-like following in the last few years, with many new fans finding them after their initial album trilogy with 2023’s Take Me Back To Eden. On this album, songs like the titular track and “The Summoning” grabbed the attention of new listeners and solidified the obsession for existing fans. The UK outfit has made a reputation for cloaking themselves in mystery and elaborate lore and creating elaborate genre-bending opuses that intrigue and confound. Now, they are back with their fourth studio album and RCA Records label debut, Even In Arcadia, released May 9, 2025.
Kicking things off is “Look To Windward,” which gives the listener a gentle introduction to the journey yet to come. It is expressive and yet also pleading. The composition features the sound of strings before exploding into a thunderous eruption of Metal cacophony, a piercing scream, and chugging chords before working its way back into a calmer stasis and transforming again with the help of some added beats. It is a journey unto itself before you even get into the album’s meat. “Emergence” follows this up with a softer touch at the onset and jaunting into bouncier territory. It is crunchy, contradictory, and aurally diverse enough to leave you a bit off kilter but intrigued.
“Dangerous” is expansive and evocative. It presents the classic makings of a ballad, but subverts those expectations with grand, sweeping chords interspersed with strategic synths and Hip Hop-influenced beats that change pace. The outro, however, goes back to that beautiful, crashing sense of tragedy at the song’s core. This leads into “Caramel,” one of the three lead singles off the album. Opening with an almost chiptune-esque style and snappy percussion, the song unfolds into a practically ethereal swell at the chorus. Lyrically, on “Caramel,” Vessel seems to be wrestling with the ramifications of finding fame and the consequences of being in the public eye, as he states –
“Acting like I’m never stressed out by the hearsay/ I guess that’s what I get for tryna hide in the limelight.”
It examines the mental and emotional turmoil artists risk while trying to balance fame and their private lives. This is driven home by the bridge where he says –
“Too blessed to be caught ungrateful, I know/So I’ll keep dancin’ along to the rhythm/This stage is a prison (Too young to get bitter over it all), a beautiful nightmare.”
The title track “Even In Arcadia” features a beautiful piano track that provides a cushion at the top of the track as it gently evolves and blossoms. While one of the more straightforward songs on the album, its simplicity makes it impactful. Something is lifting and semi-spiritual in its execution and bareness. It feels vulnerable and raw. For the fandom, this could easily be their version of a hymn, sung in praise and worship of their somber idols. “Provider” features a familiar solemnity with hymnal qualities, thanks to including what sounds like an organ at its opening before incorporating more synths and beats as it progresses. “Damocles” is another stripped-down track that feels more personal than lore-inspired. It is instrumentally very sweet through the first half before crashing in with heavier drums and chords in the second half,f demonstrating the heft of the weight of expectation Vessel sings about in the chorus –
“What if the diamond days are all gone/And who will I be when thе empire falls?/Wake up alonе and I’ll be forgotten.”
Closing out the album are “Gethsemane” and “Infinite Baths”, the former exploring the chaos and angst of navigating a toxic relationship and struggling to break the ties that bind. It is voluminous, all-encompassing, and moving both lyrically and in orchestration. The layers of sound exemplify the complexity of two people grappling with their hurt and what that might sound or feel like. “Infinite Bath” rounds things out in a Sleep Token staple method of cultivating a sonic opus that is enriched and evolved as it progresses from the simple to the operatic. At over eight minutes, it crests and falls in waves of effervescence and tumescence that, true to its title, bathe the listener in sound. It would create a truly unique immersive experience paired with darkness and mood lighting.
Overall, Even In Arcadia was supposed to follow Take Me Back To Eden, but ends up seemingly leaving “Eden” altogether instead of exploring Vessel’s inner world and struggles more this time. Lyrically, this album feels like a glimpse into a private journal full of prose where the author waxes poetic about their problems. This is not to say anything inherently wrong with this approach, just that it is surprisingly expositional and vulnerable for a band that has prided itself on guarding its identities and privacy.
Maybe this is the beginning of a more sensitive and unguarded Sleep Token? Only time will tell, but for new listeners who may have been intimidated by their previous work, Even In Arcadia comes across as more approachable while still being fairly impressive in its construction and orchestration. Existing fans will either love this approachability or loathe the perception of ‘softness.’ Still, either way, it represents a change for the UK outfit that has made its bones in the ethereal and enigmatic. Cryptic Rock gives Even In Arcadia 4 out of 5 stars.
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