Sleep Token Album Review: Even in Arcadia

Like many others, I waited with bated breath as the countdown to Sleep Token’s latest offering, Even in Arcadia, ticked down. I chased the clues, hopelessly I’ll admit, I joined the Reddit threads, even lurked on Discord, hitching a ride on the brains of better puzzle-solvers than me. I ate up every little crumb the band dangled before us.

I also reacted to the teaser releases, Emergence, Caramel, and Damocles. But when the full album finally dropped... could I bring myself to write about it? No. Not at first. I needed time. Time to sit with it. To listen. To let it sink in, settle and then marinade.

Well, the crockpot has been simmering long enough. It’s time to lift the lid and see if dinner is actually ready and, more importantly, if it’s palatable.

Now that I’ve had a few listens and a little emotional recovery, I’m ready to share my honest, track-by-track breakdown of the album — not from a technical perspective, but from the place that matters most. How it made me feel.

Because let’s be real, with all the chatter lately around Sleep Token’s genre identity, lore theories, fandom feuds, and gatekeeping, I think we’ve lost sight of the most important thing.

How does Sleep Token make you feel?

Music taste is so personal. Sharing what moves you with the wider world can feel weirdly exposing, especially when everyone is poised to pounce with their hot takes and declare what something really is, like some insufferable know-it-all who has decided they alone are the gatekeeper of music.

I get so awkward when people start chipping away at my music taste. Honestly, I’d probably rather you looked through my search history, or worse, and let’s face it, more embarrassingly, my recent calculator entries, than scroll through my personal Spotify playlists. However, today I feel brave so here's how Sleep Token's new album Even in Arcadia made me feel.

Look to the Winward - 8 Minutes of Emotional Tension

The album opens with a pulsing beat that sounds like it was composed on a Gen 2 Nintendo, nostalgic, but laced with tension. The track builds gradually, layering in instruments and backing vocals that swell with urgency and drama, with big orchestral moments and Vessel’s aching voice over synthy vibes.

Just as it all threatens to tip over, we’re hit with that intense whisper from Vessel, cue full-body chills and brain tingles, before he unleashes a scream that tears the track wide open and plunges us into the darker side.

What I love about this song is that it leans into hypnotic repetition, the kind that gets under your skin and loops in your brain for days. “Will you halt this eclipse in me” isn’t just a lyric, it feels like a desperate plea, a cry for a lifeline, for someone to pull Vessel back from whatever brink he’s teetering on or whatever transformation he’s undergoing. I still don’t really know, but either way, I’d be there in a heartbeat to halt that eclipse with him. Also, if the music career ever goes south, I’m convinced Vessel would quickly become a superstar of the ASMR scene or could land a gig on Quinn (if you know you know). One lyric that hit me like a brick was, “Drowning in burning bright abyss, this vertigo of bliss.” It perfectly captures that dizzying space where ecstasy and destruction blur together. And that final shriek, just two words, “In/Me”, is so stark and guttural it feels like a soul being torn open.

There’s an overwhelming sense of exhaustion, isolation, and raw pain threaded through the entire track. It’s clear from this opener that we’re not just listening to an album, we’re about to be pulled deep into the void of the human condition. This is a hell of a way to kick things off. It’s cinematic, yet intimate and it sets the tone for everything that follows.

Emergence - I've Not Recovered From This One Yet

I loved this track. Emergence will be a forever favourite of mine. You can watch my visceral, stuttering, and emotional reaction to this one on my YouTube channel. Emergence just envelops you. Vessel’s vocals intensify, wrapping you in his rich tones and that hypnotic rhythm makes another appearance. The rapid electronic pulse leading into the spoken-rap section somehow just fits.

The first two minutes still send my brain neurons into overdrive. From that surprise sax solo to the electronic undercurrent to the siren call of “wrap your arms around me,” this is Sleep Token at their best. And don’t even get me started on the “Huh Woo.” I wish I could make it the notification sound on my phone whenever I get a message. If Vessel has a dog, do you think he makes that noise to catch it's attention when it's being naughty or run off?

A stand-out moment for me was the random was the aforementioned sax solo. In this hybrid song, it matches perfectly, transporting me back to childhood memories of watching Lethal Weapon with its gratuitous sax moments.

This song doesn’t just move me, it unravels me.

It leaves goosebumps across my skin, swells something wordless in my chest, and stings behind my eyes like the moment before you cry. It feels like Vessel’s voice reaches into my ribcage, wraps around my heart and squeezes intensely. With every lyric, every note, he doesn’t just reflect emotion, he translates it in a way I never could.

Past Self - Darkness Lurking Beneath the Surface

This one kicks off with a playful, whimsical glockenspiel-like melody that instantly made me think of childhood, it's innocent and almost toy-like. I suspect Vessel might have been a gamer. This melody takes me back to gentle games like Zelda or Pokémon, not GTA.

But don’t be fooled. Lyrically, this song is quietly devastating.

Lines like “Guarding hounds in this hell house” and “I deliberate on cutting out the demons, I still need a dark side, they just need a reason” are perfect. It feels like Vessel is reflecting on fame, on being seen, on being haunted by who he used to be. The contrast between the lightness of the melody and the weight of the words is unsettling in the best possible way.

This song definitely has broader appeal, and I can easily see those with more vanilla musical persuasions enjoying this sweet-sounding little ditty. If you weren’t paying attention to the lyrics, you might think it was a love song or something light-hearted.

On first listen, I wasn’t sold. If it had come on first, I’d probably have skipped the track, it just didn’t resonate with my ears or soul. I’ll confess, it’s not one I feel the urge to revisit over and over like Emergence or Dangerous.

Dangerous - Dark Romance Has a New Anthem

Now, this song. Let me take a deep breath and hold your hand when I say—god damn. This track has been making the rounds on TikTok, soundtracking thirst traps from masked men, biker boys, gothic girl influencers, and dark romance cosplayers alike.

And honestly? I get it.

Lyrically, it’s obsessive passion, simmering, intense, and filled with smouldering desire. It feels like it was written from the POV of a morally grey love interest in a dark romantasy novel. However, it definitely sounds more like a mainstream track, and, let me be clear that’s not a dig. It’s sleek, sultry, and completely entrancing, but will it be a fan favourite? Well, that depends on the fan.

Personally, I kept waiting for it to go full beast mode, for Vessel to unleash some sort of animalistic growl that would wreck me but it never materialised. The song kind of fizzled out and I was left there glaring at my phone going "was that it!?"

I do, however, have a sneaking suspicion there will be a whole swathe of Sleep Token babies born as a result of this very track. Vessel is single handedly, lyric by lyric, addressing the declining birthrate with music.

Caramel - A Glimpse Beyond The Mask

Ah, Caramel. The fandom fracture point. This one really stirred the pot. Some people worship it, some enraged and others unsatisfied. You can watch my reaction to it on YouTube where I try to process it in real time, confusion, awe, emotion, it’s all there.

Lyrically, it feels like we’ve been handed pages from Vessel’s diary. It’s raw, uncomfortable, and has that unmistakable vibe of someone laying it all bare. It’s about questionable fan obsession, disillusionment with success, and fans crossing the line. “I’m scared to open my door” hits hard, especially when you remember this man has been doxxed.

This track feels like Vessel is speaking directly to those people who’ve blurred the line between fan and stalker, but he isn't being harsh or calling on them to be ostracised. It's almost like he is saying, "I don't like it, don't do it, I get it but please stop,".

This one is a slow-burn, so, if you’re here for heavy stuff, you might be tempted to skip it, but don’t!

Let it sit, let it emulsify and you might find yourself enjoying it.

And if, like me, you enjoy a good screaming punch to the face, then skip to 3.26—that’s when it gets guttural.

You’ll feel it in your chest, like a release. Caramel is not meant to be easy listening. It’s meant to get under your skin and maybe leave you reflecting on your own love of the band.

Even in Arcadia - Have You Been Waiting Long? Yes!

This one opens with a soft dappling of what sounds like the tune from a music box. There’s a vocal distortion effect here that makes Vessel sound like a choir of himself. It’s beautiful and intense but with a sense of distance, like a fog that envelopes you, it feels wide, empty and desolate, but at the same time somehow claustrophobic. Or am I bonkers? Actually don't answer that.

As someone who adores the likes of Tina Guo, Yo-Yo Ma, Clannad, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Trevor Morris, and Hans Zimmer… what can I say...the second part of this song was a pure pleasure for me. I want to listen to it while walking in the woods, imagining myself, delusionally, the main character in some Glencoe-based fantasy where I stumble into a fae world.

This isn’t one of the tracks that instantly blew me away, but that doesn’t mean it’s forgettable. It grew on me the more I listened and I’ve come to the conclusion it feels like a necessary breath in the arc of the album, like a moment of emotional quiet that allows the next tracks to hit harder.

Although I’m sure the lyrics are beautifully crafted, as they usually are with Sleep Token, I personally got lost in the instrumental side. A weird quirk of my ADHD-addled brain is that sometimes it will tune out certain parts and hyper-fixate on others and in this case, it decided it didn’t need the lyrics, just the sounds.

Provider - Controversial Opinion Time

This track has TikTok in a frenzy, and honestly, I can see why. Vessel fully embraces the dark romance fantasy here. “The only good girl on this side of the room” and “I’m a rider” could be ripped straight from the pages of a spicy BookTok favourite. It’s deliberate and it feels calculated. But, who cares, it works.

Vessel knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s seen the memes, the thirst posts, the MaskTok madness, and he’s feeding it. And yes, it’s hot.

Don’t most of us just want some masked, hot, talented, obsessed-but-respectful person to sweep in and fix all our problems like they do in books and films?

The slow build, the seductive pacing....it’s full of a type of yearning that’ll have you fanning yourself and saying “I do declare!” in a southern accent.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Provider singlehandedly inspires an entire new wave of dark romance novels. But despite all that, this one just didn’t do it for me.

It had all the ingredients, but the cake didn’t rise. The lyrics felt a bit too generic, leaning on tired tropes that stirred nothing in me except a big “meh, next.” I kept waiting for the switch-up, the twist, the teeth, but it never came. Edged much?

And I need to say it: the way he rolls the words provider and garner gives me the ick. It’s meant to feel sensual, maybe even powerful, but for me it landed somewhere between cringe and blah.

I get why people love this track, I really do, but I’ll be over here still swooning over The Summoning and Take Me Back to Eden.

Damocles - Vessel Needs a Hug

This one hit like an emotional sucker punch, much like Caramel, it sinks in deeper and deeper until you've hit the rock-bottom of the Mariana Trench. There's such weight to this song, you almost feel like a submersible on the edge of an emotional implosion.

Again, like Caramel and other tracks, Damocles feels like another chapter in Vessel’s reckoning with fame, burnout, and identity. The intimacy in the vocals makes it feel like we’re eavesdropping on a therapy session.

This is an aching thread that runs through the entire album, as if the shine has worn off the crown and now all that’s left is the pressure to keep wearing it. Heavy is the head, indeed.

You can hear it in every breath of this song.

There’s a moment in the track where you hear a tape click. And I can’t stop thinking about it. Is he changing the cassette? (that’s the thing that came before CDs younglings.) Is he hitting record on a dictaphone to capture his feelings as they happen?

Or maybe he’s switching off, going off the record entirely. Someone wiser in the comments will probably know, but either way, it stuck with me.

Gethsemane - Rachel Green's Trifle

Now hear me out, to me Gethsemane is Rachel Green's Thanksgiving trifle. You know the one: First there's a layer of ladyfingers, then jam, custard, raspberries, more ladyfingers, then beef sautéed with peas and onions.

On paper, it shouldn’t work, and yet, somehow, I’m there like Joey going “What's not to like? Custard, good. Jam, good. Beef, goooood.” I spooned this melanche of genres, instruments up and liked it.

Musically, it’s all over the place, delicate melodies clash with unpredictable rhythms and sharp transitions. But that’s what makes it so compelling. Is it my favourite? No, but I still liked to experience it at least once. For example, you might not make the trifle again but you certainly finished and licked the bowl.

Lyrically, Gethsemane goes hard after your heart. For anyone who’s been in one of those soul-crushing, one-sided relationships where you chronically feel like you’re never enough, this song hits far too close to home.

You can feel that sickness-in-your-stomach as Vessel reveals more about their relationship and how it hurts to always be the one who loves more.

“Do you want to hurt me? 'Cause nobody hurts me better.”

I mean, has a more devastatingly accurate line ever been written for that kind of dynamic? Vessel doesn’t just describe the pain, he inhabits it.

Infinite Baths - Full Circle

Ok, so the first half of the song is classic heart-wrenching Sleep Token. So for me I was like "yeah this is good, it's lovely, but show me something new." And of course Vessel delivers, skip to 5:20, and you'll see what I mean.

You'll hear a demonic voice from beyond the veil (and the mask) as Vessel shrieks out the end of the song like a sort of horrific purge mixed with a good dose of rage - it’s cathartic and completely feral, the natural conclusion to such an emotional album.

It's like all the emotion that have been simmering throughout the album have finally boiled over and scalded your hand for good measure. There’s nothing pretty or polished, it's just raw and jagged.

One line“Will you halt this eclipse in me?,” reappears linking us back to the start of the album, like a desperate, almost primal plea that has yet gone unanswered. Like I said, it's a conclusion but is it a satisfying one? No. You definitely feel like there's more to come!

Final Thoughts on Sleep Token's Latest Offering

Even in Arcadia is a deeply emotional, diverse album that has sparked much debate and obsession. Some tracks left me breathless, others left me a bit cold, but isn’t that the point of a journey like this?

Sleep Token continue to challenge, surprise, and seduce with their sound, refusing to be boxed into a genre or expectation, despite the critics and music connoisseurs best efforts. My thoughts are that Sleep Token is genre fluid and trying to etch out their own sound.

What I appreciate most is that this album lingers, grows and evolves as it sinks into your frontal lobe. And even when I didn’t love a particular track, I respected the vision behind it. You take from this album what resonates with you. So, in that sense I think it will sound different to different listeners.

And after having sat with Even in Arcadia for a while and letting it permeate my bones, I can say with certainty: I’ll be ready for whatever is next, with my mask on, headphones charged and heart open.