A guest review by Conner Brunner
The British metalcore/progressive metal band Sleep Token’s newest album, Even In Arcadia, is definitely worth listening to. With its combinations of upbeat pop melodies mixed with low cutting metal riffs, this album tells intricate stories of love like in Provider, paranoia like in Caramel, and inner turmoil like in Damocles.
This album has something for every genre of metal fans. Some songs, like Past Self and Caramel, are perfect for dancing to with their thumping beats and upbeat tempos. Infinite Baths and Look Emergence have powerful moments, perfect for head banging and Dangerous and Damocles are perfect for singing your heart out. Check out the track list:
Track List:
- Look to Windward
- Emergence
- Past Self
- Dangerous
- Caramel
- Even in Arcadia
- Provider
- Damocles
- Gethsemane
- Infinite Baths
Now I’m not a big Sleep Token listener, the thing that turned me on to this album was hearing Emergence on SiriusXM Octane’s “Big Uns” Top 15 songs of the week countdown. I was hooked with Vessel’s sorrowful voice at the start and then to the build up with the repeated “Go ahead and wrap your arms around me, arms around me, arms around me” into that bass drop that followed in a punch pattern throughout that verse verse. It’s not something I usually listen to but I liked it, because it was different and new to me.
Then I stuck around listening to each release counting down until the full album came out, Caramel followed after Emergence, then Damocles. Both Caramel and Damocles hooked me even further. The Caramel was more of a letter to the fans addressing their insane behavior to them, after searching for more to clear lingering confusion in me I found that they had many issues with stalking and doxxing from their fans so in Caramel they point out those behaviors and the paranoia and anxiety the fans caused the band.
Damocles was easy for me to connect to with the lines “what if I can’t get up and stand tall? What if the diamond days are all over?” because the people I’m surrounded by often put me in a bad head state wondering will I have carefree days again? And will these people accept that I’m not their cookie cutter person? I have my own beliefs and ideals they often scoff at. Damocles is my favorite song off the album to sing along with because of its beautiful melody that just feels right when I’m by myself letting it all out.
However my favorite song off the album is probably Infinite Baths, not because I love to bathe but because it was a song that felt good to listen to. It starts out very slow like all of the songs then that ending is definitely my favorite part. I love those deep and brutal guitar riffs that pairs with the demonic scream (time stamp 5:18 to the end). I love angry crunchy guitar sounds and this definitely satisfied that love.
I really enjoyed the album because of its experiments. As an aspiring metal artist who used to produce rap beats for friends I can appreciate the production side of things too. Honestly, I could ramble about the production for hours. The way the band blends in those electronic bits with its metal counterparts is amazing. Listen to Look To Windward where they blend that somewhat retro video game reminiscent opening in with some action movie build up with violins and Vessel’s melodic voice in the background. Then cut it off as he whispers “Will you halt this eclipse in…” and then have the instruments play the metal part in a beautiful crescendo paired with the fry scream. Just finishing that sentence gives me goosebumps. Hearing it for the first time I could almost feel my heart race as the production and sound design nerd inside my brain does excited backflips.
Over all I’d give the album about eight out of ten. I say that because I find myself listening to heavier music, my favorite bands are Slipknot and Motionless In White, so usually there’s not much pop/R&B mixed in like there is with Sleep Token. I still throughly enjoy this album and can see myself listening to this on repeat for a while.
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