On March 13, Sleep Token emerged with a new offering—this term is often used when the band releases new tracks—for their upcoming album: “Even in Arcadia.”
Sleep Token is an anonymous British alternative metal band that grew in popularity after the release of their last album “Take Me Back to Eden,” with “The Summoning,” a single off the album, trending on TikTok for weeks.
Over the last three years, the band has been touring and dropping hints for their next album. This included II, the drummer, III, the bassist, and IV the guitarist, all receiving new masks in an Instagram post captioned, “Nothing Lasts Forever.”
This was very confusing to fans, and some even believed that the band would stop making music altogether since Vessel’s story–the lead singer–was finished with TMBTE.
For the last few weeks, leading up to the single’s release, the band sent their followers on a scavenger hunt. A link from the official Sleep Token fan email takes you to a website where you can choose between Feathered Host or House Veridian.
The text under the image of the Feathered Host reads “The cycle must end.” While the text under House Veridian reads, “The house must endure.”
Upon clicking these links, you enter your email to receive cryptic messages, but one stands out: when you’d be sent to one of two Instagram accounts through your email.
The band leaked their own music and had two images of Morse code, leading fans to Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California.
Immediately, fans got to work dissecting what this could all mean for not only the new album but also the new story unfolding with it.
Images of QR codes found on poles at the observatory were posted online. One week later, House Veridian, Feathered Host and Sleep Token’s Instagram accounts posted stories reading: “Prepare. 3/13. 8 AM ET.”
This sparked excitement throughout the community, with some speculating we’d get the single, others the entire album, while some believed that the band was trolling fans and would just release more tour dates. The reason for the speculation was artists usually drop their music at midnight on release day.
Analysis of “Emergence”:
The story of Sleep Token is long and spans almost 10 years since the band’s creation. “Take Me Back To Eden” was an album that kicked off their popularity in ways not even Vessel knew was possible. This will be a snippet into Sleep Token’s lore with TMBTE as well as my theory on how “Even in Arcadia” continues the story of Vessel.
“Take Me Back To Eden” told the story of Sleep, Vessel and Eden. Throughout the album, Vessel tells the story of how Sleep still has a hold on him, that he goes back and forth between being happy to have this relationship with the deity, and how he is in pain with the toxic relationship.
Our first introduction to Eden was during “Are You Really Okay?” This song depicts how Vessel felt about Eden’s self-harm, with him saying, “But I, I don’t believe you when you tell me you are fine.” This kicks off Vessel’s transformation into a better person because up until that point, he was depicted to be as toxic as Sleep and only used people to make himself feel better.
As the album goes on, Vessel slowly acknowledges the fact that he is a changed person and slowly moves away from Sleep.
The last song addressed to the deity is “Take Me Back To Eden,” where he finally bids Sleep goodbye. In the aftermath, in “Euclid,” Vessel finally leaves his past behind, calling back to “The Night Does Not Belong To You” from “Sundowning.” This is depicted as a turning point for Vessel and the band’s music going forward.
“Emergence” seems to be a transition between TMBTE and “Even in Arcadia.” As discussed before, the two options House Veridian and Feathered Host read “The house must endure” and “The cycle must end.” I believe that this is a new story of Vessel as
he and Eden move through life. Vessel is a changed man now and he’s ending the cycle of toxicity with his relationships and he must endure the fight.
Throughout the song, it goes back and forth between this softness with a pop feel and piano and this rap-like with the hardness of drums and guitars. This back and forth could be him talking to Sleep with that hardness in his voice and to Eden with that tenderness.
“I am the rose you relinquished again,” he’s referring to Sleep at this point continuing to say, “You and I went down head first. In another world I had. But I have a feeling we’re close to the end.” This is Vessel telling Sleep to move on because he wasn’t coming back no matter how hard they begged for him. Then the song transitions to Eden as Eden tells Vessel, “So go ahead and wrap your arms around me.”
Vessel is excited about how he stands up for himself because later in the song he says, “My blood beats so alive, might tear right through my skin.” This depicts Vessel changing and saying to Sleep, “So, tell me what you meant by ‘living past your half-life.’” Sleep is trying to win Vessel over, but he keeps questioning her words. Vessel puts up a wall around himself saying, “You know I’m sanctified by what’s below. No matter what you do, no matter where you go.” This is Vessel telling Sleep about his followers—the fans—and how Sleep needs to let go because no matter what, her actions will come back to her.
The depiction of Vessel putting on this shield of armor against Sleep is exemplified by the visualizer for the song. There is static at the end showing a knight in a Dark Souls/Elden Ring type setting, fighting someone that looks to be from one of the many statues from TMBTE. However, all of this is speculation.
Sleep Token’s official Facebook page posted a new image of Vessel shedding his old cloak and mask. Though similar to his old one, the cloak and Sleep symbol on the mask are now a deep shade of green. He is also wearing a new plate of shoulder armor that is clearer and more refined. His mask, once white and red, now is green and gold. I believe that this is our new story: Vessel emerges from the last song “Euclid,” where he says that he is no longer the same person we once knew, and this new song “Emergence” is the transition between TMBTE and “Even in Arcadia.”