Sleep Token has just released not only the most important album of their career with Even In Arcadia, but perhaps the most pivotal album for heavy music in decades.
The masked modern metallers have long walked the line between anonymity and intimacy. But this time, it feels like the veil is slipping. As much as Even In Arcadia connects to the lore of the band, it’s also about the human beneath the mask and what remains when worship fails. This is the story behind Even In Arcadia, how it came to be, the underlying meanings and things that have not yet come to pass.
Rising From The UK Metal Scene
To get a true perspective on Even In Arcadia, we have to go back to the beginning when the band formed in 2016. Things were very different then, whilst they were an unknown entity, it was clear their was a vision for the band from the outset.
In just two short years, they released the EP’s One and Two, a cover of Outkast’s Hey Ya, signed with Basik Records, and supported Loathe & Holding Absence on a UK tour. To date, there have been just a handful of interviews with the band. In 2017, Vessel stated to Metal Hammer:
How we got here is as irrelevant as who we are – what matters is the music and the message. We are here to serve Sleep and project His message. Our identities are unimportant. Music is marketed on who is or isn’t in a band; it’s pushed, prodded and moulded into something it isn’t. Vessel endeavours to keep the focus on His offerings.
This line is crucial when understanding the meaning behind Sleep Token’s music. Our entire society is now very dominated by personality; it doesn’t matter if you’re a musician, economist or factory worker, everyone seemingly has a TikTok, Podcast or YouTube channel to help promote themselves, one way or another. And it’s in this environment where the struggle exists between Sleep Token and the wider world.
From The Underground To Arenas
Following a fast rise in the UK metal scene, they would go on to sign with Spinefarm Records in 2019 and release the albums Sundowning, This Place Will Become Your Tomb, and Take Me Back To Eden. Across this period, the band just completely exploded.
Mission accomplished, you might think, every band’s dream, to blow up and for the focus to be on the music and not the personality… But sadly, like many things in life, there’s a price for everything, and the dark side of success reared its ugly head.
As the band continued to grow exponentially, selling 10,000 tickets in 10 minutes for their Wembley Arena show, and then growing even further after that. Fans wanted to get closer and closer to the band. It’s here where things got to fever pitch. In January 2024, one fan is alleged to have found and shared the birth certificate of bassist, known as III, online. This led to III deleting all of their social media accounts. The band would also later follow suit, wiping their socials, stating “Nothing lasts forever”.
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Sleep Token Lyric Meanings
Whether that wipe was part of the album plan or not, there’s no doubting that this series of events fundamentally changed the trajectory of Sleep Token’s music, leading to the album Even In Arcadia.
From the beginning, “Emergence” feels less like a song and more like a rebirth in slow motion. The opening line, “Well, you were laid in verse / Living on a promised word”, paints a picture of someone raised on poetic ideals, now realising those promises don’t hold weight in the real world.
And by the final verse, Vessel shifts from cryptic to cosmic: “Solar flares for your dead gods, space dust for your fuel rods.”
This isn’t just emotional fallout, it’s nuclear. There’s no going back. “Emergence” is about shedding who you were… even if it leaves you raw and ruined. There’s perhaps a reluctant acceptance about anonymity taking place within the band as well, with drummer II taking part in a Drumeo video series revealing more identity of the band.
But the moment the penny truly dropped for fans that Even In Arcadia was addressing more than band lore was with the release of Caramel.
(In these days of days) Tell me, did I give you what you came for? (I wish it all away) Terrified to answer my own front door
There’s no mysticism here, it’s a breaking of the fourth wall, a way for Vessel to communicate directly to the fans about everything that’s taken place so far. It’s an incredible song, but one that’s also difficult to accept.
This then takes us to “Damocles”, a song that borrows its name from the legendary figure in the court of Dionysius II, who discovers the terrifying reality of power when a sword is suspended above his head by a single thread, a symbol of the perilous weight that comes with glory. Here, the band positions fame, expectation, and internal mental strain as the sword, with Vessel – the anonymous, masked mouthpiece of Sleep Token, beneath it. The opening line, “Waking up under blades, blue blossom days,” juxtaposes the serenity with threat.
End Of An Era.. But The Story Continues
Vessel’s mission is to bring this music as an offering to the god Sleep, acting as a priest, medium, and martyr. But what happens when the martyr burns out?
“Damocles,” paired with “Emergence” and “Caramel,” reflects a trajectory from rebirth to disillusionment. The realisation that paradise doesn’t prevent pain, that even in Arcadia, there’s rot beneath the soil.
And with the album now out, we can also look at the lyrics of:
Past Self
Gave away all my blessings Lift off, weightless, Torn apart by the true believers that turned out to be faithlessInfinite Baths
Bursting colours when you laugh, Well, I have fought so long to be here, I am never going backEven In Arcadia
No matter how we feel, We’ve got a taste for one another and a few good years to kill, No matter what is real, It seems that even in Arcadia, you walk beside me still
The story of Even In Arcadia is one that is truly bittersweet. The album’s title offers a haunting clue to the band’s emotional thesis. It nods to the phrase Et in Arcadia ego, often translated to “Even in paradise, there is death.” In other words, even in your greatest moments, even when you’re surrounded by success or beauty or divine love, death waits. So does decay and silence.
Perhaps this line from Damocles sums up this feeling best: And who will I be when the empire falls? Wake up alone, and I’ll be forgotten
Whilst Sleep Token have remained steadfast in protecting their physical anonymity, it’s the emotional masks that are beginning to slip. The unmasking of a band is often inevitable; KISS, Slipknot, Ghost, and more all eventually revealed the faces behind the personas. But with Sleep Token, the unmasking may take a different form. Not the removal of the literal masks, but the stripping away of everything else, the guardedness, the mythology, the distance. As their music grows more raw and confessional, the barrier between band and listener continues to dissolve.
We may never see their faces. But emotionally? We’re already seeing more than ever before, and with headline performances at the likes of Download Festival set to establish them even further as one of the most important bands in the scene, Even In Arcadia marks more than just a musical milestone; it feels like a point of no return.
If Take Me Back to Eden was the end of an era, Even In Arcadia is the echo that follows. The one that says: “We made it. But look at what cost us”.
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