While I’ve always liked Sleep Token, their albums in the past have never truly hooked me, oftentimes feeling disjointed and bloated.
There’s an aura of confidence on the album, that of a band that not only knows what they’re doing, but also knows they are onto something special, and they’re completely right about it. Whether it be the sultry R&B of “Aqua Regia”, to the intense blackgaze of “Vore”, Sleep Token executes well on both fronts, and does so cohesively, which is an impressive feat in of itself, but is also indicative of the band’s maturity over the last few years since their debut. While there is certainly an element of shock value at play, Sleep Token executes these conflicting elements and styles masterfully in most cases throughout the record. ‘Take Me Back To Eden’, the UK outfit’s third full-length LP is a shining example of the contrasts and paradoxes the band defines themselves with. Everything about the band is the antithesis of what the music industry as whole tends to promote or recommend, and yet they’re one of the hottest bands in all of music in 2023. Sleep Token are rather defined by contradictions, led by heavenly R&B-esque vocals over drop-tuned 8 string guitars and writing 8 minute-long genre-bending epics, yet having exploded in popularity on the short-form platform TikTok. There’s even a deep lore surrounding the band’s characters and their cult-like imagery for those who are into that, however, to me, this isn’t what defines the band. Shrouded in complete anonymity, Sleep Token’s identity often lies in their robes and distinct masks.
It’s an ambitious, emotional monolith of a record, with all the hallmarks of future classic status.Review Summary: Diamonds in the trees, pentagrams in the night sky There’s more risks on ‘Take Me Back To Eden’ than Sleep Token have ever taken before, but there’s never an opportunity to doubt whether anything they attempt will succeed. By treating each genre like a movement in a classical piece, nothing ever jars, where in less skilled hands, it so easily could. The sharpest turns arrive in two lengthy tracks, ‘Ascensionism’ and ‘Take Me Back To Eden’, which weave between starkly different sounds – hushed piano, airy synths, dagger-like djent, and bursts of R&B that toy with autotune and trap drums – with breathtaking grace. They’ve even attempted their own staple arena-rock ballad in the form of ‘Are You Really Okay?’, for example, a beautiful but agonisingly raw song touching on mental health and self-harm that ends with frontman Vessel begging “Please don’t hurt yourself again.” Indeed, their unpredictability, more than ever, is part of their very essence, and there’s a lot here that seasoned Sleep Token fans will recognise as unchartered territory. In theory, the darkly seductive, piano-laden R&B number ‘Aqua Regia’ shouldn’t rub up anywhere near a song like the lacerating black-metal inspired ‘Vore’, but the contrast in sounds between these two songs feels purposeful rather than confused. While rooted in metal they reach further into other genres than most bands would dare. Plenty of artists of their ilk adopt a genre-fluid approach, but on ‘Take Me Back To Eden’, Sleep Token stretches that concept to its limit. Read more – Sleep Token: what’s behind the rapid rise of the mysterious masked collective?.
In fact, even beyond ‘Chokehold’ and ‘The Summoning’, there’s a whole other 48 minutes or so of bold, stunning music on ‘Take Me Back To Eden’ that will pour cold water on any suggestion that Sleep Token’s is a flash-in-the-pan success. The success of those singles was no accident. With their identities concealed beneath masks and cloaks, and both a rich, fantastical origin story and a huge cult fanbase behind them, Sleep Token were luring in the masses while letting their music speak for itself.ĭoubters dismissed their shadowy anonymity and eclectic sound as a gimmick, but this band’s star isn’t burning out. The former’s jaw-dropping riffs and the latter’s sultry fusion of metal and funk had their Spotify monthly listeners quintupling in a fortnight, and yet, nobody knew who these masked musicians were. Without any prior notice, they unleashed two new singles, ‘Chokehold’ and ‘The Summoning’ on consecutive days, and made themselves alternative music’s new favourite topic of conversation. Just days into 2023, Sleep Token were at the epicentre of an unprecedented moment.
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