Being a metal fan is very weird because the fandom rarely agrees on anything.
There always seems to be an argument on who is a ‘real’ fan and who is a ‘poser’ or how much modern metal sucks (this was an argument back in the early 2000s and 1990s as well).
Once in a while, there comes a band or genre that really gets people arguing. In the 2000s, it was nu metal; in the 2010s, it was instrumental bands like Polyphia and Animals as Leaders.
In the 2020s, it is metalcore and Sleep Token.
Released on May 19, 2023, “Take Me Back To Eden” is the third studio album by Sleep Token, an anonymous British alternative metal band. This album is significant to the band as it exploded in popularity upon its release in 2023, becoming Spotify’s most-streamed metal album of that year.
As you can expect, the album’s reception was very mixed, with reviews ranging from glowing to negative.
With their latest single, “Emergence,” which was released March 13, and the announcement of a new album, “Even In Arcadia,” scheduled for release May 9, now is a perfect opportunity to look back at this divisive album.
However, due to this divisive nature, this review will be different. Throughout the review, there will be two perspectives: one from a writer who enjoys the album (Chloé Newman, assistant design editor) and one from a writer who hates the album (Ian Young, editor-in-chief).
Chloé: I joined the Sleep Token fandom back in 2023 with the TMBTE album. The way they use their music to tell a story and have a diverse sound is what drew me into it in the first place. My first song off the album was “The Summoning.” I went back and listened to everything before the album and became a quick fan.
Ian: I became aware of Sleep Token when this album was released in 2023. Just like Chloé, “The Summoning” was the first song I heard from the band. I also love every subgenre of metal, whether it’s metalcore, thrash, death, progressive and so on, so I was pretty interested when I heard about Sleep Token and their ‘diverse’ songwriting. Even though they have a pretty interesting aesthetic and stage presence, I find their songwriting to be very bland and artificial.
“Chokehold”:
Chloé: “Chokehold” was a weird song for me. I think it’s a nice song and a nice transition from “This Place Will Become Your Tomb.” I’ve noticed on past albums that when the next one comes out, they transition the music between albums, making it a nice continuation of the story. It’s not my favorite on the album, but it’s one of the many songs I enjoy from Sleep Token.
This is where I get to talk about the lore from my perspective. “Chokehold” was, as I stated before, a continuation from “This Place Will Become Your Tomb.” It’s Vessel telling us that Sleep still controls him, and he feels like he’s in a chokehold. I like how Vessel didn’t try to throw more lore at us right out of the gate with the new album. 8/10.
Ian: It is a song that introduces the album’s soundscape fairly well, but it’s not a sound I enjoy. Vessel, the vocalist of the band, has a very weird singing style that I don’t like. It sounds like bad autotune combined with the worst aspects of a vocalist trying to be sexy. It’s weird, and I find his singing flat-out bad on this song.
That said, I like the instrumentation quite a bit. The djent guitars that come in a third of the way through the song are huge and got my attention. I feel the same way about the end of the song, with the big guitar chugs alongside the chorus. It’s a big tone setter for the album, but it doesn’t do much for me. 4/10.
“The Summoning”:
Chloé: This wasn’t very hard for me to rate because I’m incredibly biased when it comes to this song since it was my introduction to Sleep Token. It has the heaviness I was looking for in the previous song, and it has this nice mix of metal and sexiness. Of course, like always, II on the drums was amazing. I like the mixing between the screaming and the jazz, it was very funky and different to hear, especially for my 17-year-old self when I first listened to this.
“The Summoning” has this sexiness to it that everyone on YouTube at the time was claiming was ‘baby-making metal,’ however, it has a very dark story. It’s Vessel telling us about his relationship with Sleep, that the deity is using him, saying, “I’ve got a blood trail, red in the blue.” Vessel is constantly crawling back towards his deity, begging for forgiveness, and the cycle continues. “Raise me up again. Take me past the edge.” I like how, at first glance, this song is sexual, but when you read the lyrics, it’s graphic and depicts an abusive relationship. 10/10.
Ian: I still like this song since listening to it for the first time, but my enjoyment has wavered.
I have no complaints with the first two-thirds of the song. The main riff is awesome, the drumming is clean and groovy, and Vessel’s vocals sound much better on this song, especially since we begin to hear his harsh screams, which sound great. As much of a hater as I want to be, I always cave when I hear the main chorus, as it is one of the best moments on the album.
As much as I praise this song, I don’t like the last two minutes. This funky, jazzy section comes out of nowhere and completely ruins what the song was building up to. It doesn’t sound bad, but it does not belong here and drastically affects my overall rating. 6/10.
“Granite”:
Chloé: “Granite” is a personal love of mine. I love that it starts soft and then gets a little harder with the nice snap transition into the rap-like singing we got from Vessel. I’m a sucker for songs that have science-based lyrics.
This song is Vessel talking to Sleep. He’s telling them, “Granite in my chest. You won’t ever have to talk about it. You’ll never wanna talk about it.” Vessel loves Sleep; he’s practically melded to them and doesn’t recognize how abusive they are.
This is because I head canon that Vessel is not human anymore. Going back to the beginning of Sleep Token, there was a song named “Calcutta,” and in it, we see Vessel without a mask. The song shows Vessel transforming into the person we know today. Though the timeline isn’t clear, I argue that Vessel, at this moment, is a thousand-year-old creature. He forgot how to be human, and there are some human aspects that he doesn’t remember after centuries of being a vessel.
He tells Sleep, “And I am. Between the secondhand smoke and the glass on the street.” He doesn’t believe that he’s important, and we see this point in the song where he confronts Sleep and says, “When you sit there acting like you know me. Acting like you only brought me here to get below me. Never mind the death threats, parting at the door.” 10/10.
Ian: This is the first of the pop songs on the album, and I do not like them. I absolutely cannot stand Vessel’s rapping. His flow feels off, to the point that it sounds AI-generated. This is alongside some weird lyrics. I understand the band has some huge lore surrounding it, but as someone who doesn’t care about lyrics that much, these lyrics have the depth of a pothole
Then, we get to the way this song sounds. Sleep Token’s take on pop sounds like it was stripped from the late 2010s, which means this song sounds like an Imagine Dragons album reject. It’s trying so hard to be a ‘vibe,’ but all they do is strip the charm out of the songwriting.
I will say that the ending metal section comes in very naturally and makes much more sense as a genre shift moment compared to the ending of “The Summoning.” Still, it doesn’t save the song. 3/10.
“Aqua Regia”:
Chloé: This is my favorite song off the album. A little fun fact: aqua regia means royal water in English, and it’s also a chemical compound that melts gold and platinum. The reference to the liquid gold is also shown in the visualizer, which immediately screams to me that Vessel knows what that means and that he’s a total nerd (affectionately).
This song is clearly sexual from how Vessel talked about his relationship with Sleep: “Gold rush, acid flux. Saturate me, I can’t get enough.” While a lot of people don’t realize how sexual it is, I believe it’s a lot more explicit than “The Summoning” because of the way that it was written. In terms of lore, this is Vessel showing that he and Sleep are still having this back-and-forth where he’s switching between hating them and loving them: “Cold love, hot blood.” I love this song and love how there’s still this conflict between these two characters. 9/10.
Ian: Another pop track off the album. I don’t find it as frustrating as the last song, but it is also much more one-note. There are no major shifts throughout the song, and it sticks to its mellow vibe from beginning to end.
I like the percussion and the piano throughout the song, but I can’t say much more as it is a very forgettable song off the album. 5/10.
“Vore”:
Chloé: This is not my favorite song on the album, but I’m a little biased when it comes to the amount of screaming in a song. I’m someone who needs to be in a mood to listen to a song like this with so much screaming. Other than that, I like it.
This song is more of an address to Vessel himself, and he talks about how he doesn’t feel the same and that things are getting worse. “Are you in pain like I am?” is a lyric repeated over and over again. This song isn’t just for Vessel, though, but it also hints at a character we’re going to be seeing next. 7/10.
Ian: This is my favorite song on the album by far. This is the only song I consistently return to, and the main reason is the drumming.
II, the drummer of Sleep Token, is one of the most creative and innovative drummers in metal right now, and all of that is shown in this song. He utilizes his entire drum kit throughout the song, and it’s exciting to hear every time I put the song on.
Not to be outdone, the vocals are at their best on this song. Vessel’s screams are ferocious and are a nice change of pace from his clean singing on the other songs. Most surprising for me is that his clean vocals on this song are great, the chorus especially being really strong.
While I have my woes with the overall way this album sounds, this is the best-sounding song on the album and my favorite song by the band, as it truly shows off their creativity and technical proficiency. 8/10.
“Ascensionism”:
Chloé: The beginning is soft, and I like that. I love the piano making a return from “TPWBYT.” There are a lot of references to “Dark Signs,” which isn’t the first time that we’ve seen Vessel reference his old works, but it’s not hard to pick up on if you’ve listened to the albums like I have.
Lore-wise, it’s a big turning point for Vessel’s character. He’s questioning Sleep more; of course, he’s talked about Sleep being this bitter person and how he loves and hates them. But this is the first time that we see Vessel asking Sleep, “Who made you like this?”
He’s finally talking back and questioning Sleep’s intentions, “Past what might be eating me from the inside, darling. Half algorithm, half deity. Glitches in the code or gaps in a strange dream.” I love this for Vessel, and I’m glad we get to see him finally questioning and realizing that this isn’t an okay relationship to be in. 9/10.
Ian: While not the longest song off the album, it certainly feels the longest and is the point where the album goes downhill for me.
The song is just so boring, and it drags on and on, to the point that it becomes such a chore to continue to listen to. It feels like the song is trying to build to a big climax, but when it comes, it’s only there for about 20 seconds before it immediately goes back to droning on. I feel like my time is wasted listening to this song, and not even the big metal section can change my mind on that. 2/10.
“Are You Really Okay?”:
Chloé: If you want to cry at 3 in the morning, this is your song. It slaps you in the face in terms of storytelling. It is the first sad song, in my opinion, since “Bloodsport” from “Sundowning,” and it is the first song I listened to from them and sobbed to.
This is the first time we’re truly introduced to Eden as a character other than when she is hinted at in “Vore.” She’s hurting, and Vessel sees this and asks her, “Are you really okay? And don’t you know I could see it in you even now?”
This is the first time Vessel is portrayed without selfish intentions. This is a pinnacle moment for Vessel and his character development throughout the Sleep Token story. 8/10.
Ian: This song is five minutes of cliches and ear fatigue. It feels fake and artificial, with some of the most sterile instrumentals on the album so far. On top of this, the vocals are so overdramatic alongside lyrics that sound like trauma dumping. 1/10.
“The Apparition”:
Chloé: While this song doesn’t stand out by itself, it has a lot of elements that I like.
“The Apparition,” I believe, is talking about Eden, not Sleep. He says, “You and I, my dear. And it remains. With me to this day. No matter what I do. This scar will never fade.” I believe that this is Vessel apologizing to Eden and holding himself accountable because he is terrified that she’ll leave.
“Why are you never real? The shifting states you follow me through. Unrevealed. Just let me go or take me with you…” He believes that this is Sleep messing with him in the ‘dream world.’ He wonders if Eden is real and if she’ll hurt him just like Sleep has done the last centuries. 8/10.
Ian: This is another nothing song to me. I think the big metal chorus in the back half of the song is neat. Besides that, I couldn’t tell you anything else memorable about the song. 2/10.
“DYWTYLM”:
Chloé: I kinda have to agree with Ian on this one. As much as my heart tells me not to, the song isn’t impressive when it comes to their past music. However! I believe that it isn’t boring, not at all. It gives a 2010s pop feel that I’ve been missing when it comes to modern-day pop music. I think Vessel captured it very well in this song.
I love the song in terms of Vessel’s character. I love how he finally believes that he can change a person: “Do you ever believe. That we can turn into different people?” This is for Sleep, one hundred percent. However, this song is also a turning point where Vessel realizes that Sleep doesn’t love him, let alone care about him being their ‘vessel ’; they were only using him to gain more worshippers.
I argue that at this point, this song shows how much Eden is helping Vessel in the background and how much he’s changing. Though it feels like a short time for us, this change has been leading up for the last three albums with the constant fighting and questioning, but Vessel needed that push. And that push was Eden. 8/10.
Ian: I can say with no exaggeration that this is one of the worst songs I have ever heard. It’s not bad in the typical way where it’s laughable or unlistenable. Rather, it is so boring and uninteresting that I feel nothing from this song.
The lyrics are generic and cliché, the vocals are bad and the instrumentals have all of the life sucked out of them. If “Vore” was everything I like about Sleep Token, this song is everything I hate about them. 0/10.
“Rain”:
Chloé: This song brought on my first spiritual experience. Especially so after the “Teeth of God” concert in Texas in 2024. When they started to sing this song, it began to storm and rain over the crowd that was standing outside. It was a beautiful experience to watch, even if I wasn’t physically there to experience it.
This is a love song for Eden. Vessel fell hard for Eden, and this song is our first introduction to that: “And just like the rain. You cast the dust into nothing. And wash out the salt from my hands. So, touch me again…And I can see you in my fate…” Vessel is now breaking apart from Sleep and saying “That the vicious cycle was over. The moment you smiled at me.” I would also like to note that the lyric “Saturate me” comes back again from “Aqua Regia,” but it’s for Eden; it no longer holds malicious intent for him.
Me, being the girl that I am, I love a good love song about a boy being head-over-heads for a girl. 10/10, without question.
Ian: This song transitions a boom-clap, millennial pop segment into a djent, metal breakdown.
“Rain” is disjointed, all over the place and so cheesy I feel my heart palpitate as I’m writing this. That said, I enjoy this song for these reasons. I’m unsure if that enjoyment is ironic or not, but I am sure that this is one of my favorite songs on the album.
Even with a goofy transition — a boom-clap, millennial pop segment into a djent, metal breakdown — this song has the best buildup and journey of any song on the album. It has a calm beginning, an intense bridge that builds things to an explosive climax, and a strong outro. I can’t help but like this, even with its issues. 7/10.
“Take Me Back To Eden”:
Chloé: I love the birds; I just love this song in general. It gets my heart pumping, and I have the feeling that I’m going through the same things as Vessel. This song truly made me feel like I was fighting alongside Vessel.
This is the final song that addresses Sleep in this album. Vessel finally breaks away from Sleep, and he’s addressing what’s been going on, finally realizing that this isn’t okay. That final, breaking-the-chains moment. “My, my, those eyes like fire. I’m a winged insect, you’re a funeral pyre. Come now, bite through these wires.”
The song being the title track, I argue that Sleep was trying to pull Vessel back to them and to forget about Eden. He’s tired, and he’s fighting, which is exemplified through the switch to rap-like sound again that we’ve only really seen being used to address Sleep.
I like how the song is so long to show Vessel’s struggle to get back to Eden. In terms of the timeline, I argue that Vessel was fighting Sleep for years, as explained by the eight-minute mark. He’s begging to get back to Eden, saying, “That we’ve no idea what we’ve got until we lose it.”
At the end of the song, the music kicks up again with, “I have travelled far beyond the path of reason. Take me back to Eden.” This isn’t just him begging; no, at this point in the song, he has found her and isn’t going to let her go again. 10/10.
Ian: This is probably the most frustrating song on the album for me. It’s eight minutes, the longest on the album, and it doesn’t feel like it deserves that length.
It feels like we reach the climax of the song two minutes in, then we meander for four minutes, reaching a second climax, but the ‘real’ one as it fades out afterward. It just feels wrong. The whole song should be this big moment, especially since it is the title track, yet we spend most of the album waiting and waiting for something to happen.
The worst part is that when something finally does happen, it’s only for 20 seconds, and it’s frustrating. I know this band knows how to make big, epic moments last a long time, but they decide not to do it where it should matter the most, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. 3/10.
“Euclid”:
Chloé: A good song to finalize the album. A beautiful piano solo that’s just for Vessel himself. Vessel has finally let go; he’s found Eden and sees himself changed. “I must be someone new.”
“Just run it back; give me five whole minutes. I am a thick tar on the inside, burning. I’ve got a ghost in the hallway grinning.” He still has guilt and ghosts that he’s finally addressing, and this song ties back to their very first album, “One.”
“It’s still the autumn leaves. These ancient canopies…The night belongs to you. This bough has broken through…” These lines reference “The Night Does Not Belong to God” from “Sundowning.” The lyric, “This bough has broken though” is from their third track “When the Bough breaks.”
Of course, he has to reference Eden, saying, “So if your wings won’t find you heaven. I will bring it down like an ancient bygone.” He found her, and he’ll do anything to protect her.
But then we see something different: “We tangle endlessly. Like lovers entwined. I know for the last time. You will not be mine. So give me the night…” This is not something you’d expect, especially after fighting for so long. But Vessel knows that he can’t have Eden, which brings me to my other head canon to finish up the story: Eden is human.
He knows it, the ‘dream realm,’ I argue, is Sleep’s domain, and in it time passes very slowly. Those thousands of years of him looking for her are only 8 minutes in this domain. Mimicking the song’s run time. Vessel has let go of Eden because he didn’t want her getting hurt by his mistakes.
This is Vessel’s redemption after all these years and all this time fighting. He’s finally done it. However, the story doesn’t end. Sleep still has some control over him, but he’s not cracking anymore. I’m very excited to see “Even in Arcadia,” where the story continues. 10/10. A perfect ending to a cliffhanger.
Ian: This does not feel like the last song on the album. It feels like another disjointed pop-metal fusion that mistakenly got placed at the end.
Even with my complaints about the title track, “Take Me Back To Eden” feels like a much more conclusive song than this does.
Outside of the placing in the track list, I still can’t say I like this song. The disjointed instrumentals, constantly going back and forth between djent guitar chugs and pop piano tunes, make this a weird listen.
All in all, a disappointing and misplaced final track. 2/10.
Our conclusions:
Chloé: Sleep Token’s love for mixing music genres drew me to the band in the first place. As someone who’d listen to anything and everything, this was right up my alley.
When I found out there was a story, you bet I was immediately on it. Of course, I’ve mentioned my thoughts on the story throughout this. I’d like to mention one last time that there’s only been one confirmation of the story, as of writing this, and that’s in “The Teeth of God,” a graphic novel they’ve released, which shows how Sleep and Vessel met and Vessel’s origin story.
Don’t take everything I said too seriously; it’s only how I think the story is written. These are my theories and speculations. The lore aspect took me a little bit because their song list is so long. Over 30 songs and counting: albums, singles and covers. These all play a role in Vessel’s story, and I appreciate how much the band does. Vessel, II, III, and IV are incredibly talented in what they do. These guys are my favorite band, and I’ll say that with my chest. The way Vessel writes lyrics and how skillful II, III and IV are in terms of their instruments, it’s amazing to see and hear. I’d also like to note that in the beginning, it was just Vessel and II making the music; all the guitars and keyboards you hear outside of the drumming, it’s Vessel.
There are some songs I rated lower, other than me being gratuitous with my 10/10s. I wanted to be a little more critical. These songs, I feel, you can pick up in whatever mood you’re in. As you can tell, my scoring isn’t incredibly low, like Ian’s. However, it was hard for me not to rate some songs 10/10. Some 9s were because I can’t give every song a 10/10.
However, this is the best album they’ve ever made. With every album, they get better and better. I recommend that people reading this sit down and listen to “Sundowning,” then “This Place Will Become Your Tomb,” and then this one. You’ll hear how good they’re getting and even more so with “Emergence.”
Ian: Sleep Token’s whole thing is combining the traits and characteristics of modern progressive and djent metal with moody alt-pop circa the late 2010s, topped off with R&B vocals and a very clean, polished sound. These are the qualities that people will point to when they say that these guys are different from the rest of the metal scene and why this record will be influential.
If Sleep Token was doing something different than the rest of the heavy music world, I’d be all for it. I think metal needs new ideas to keep it alive, and some bands (Knocked Loose, Blood Incantation, Deafheaven) are definitely doing that.
The thing is, I don’t think “Take Me Back To Eden” is all that different or new.
Heavy music has been trying to be pop music for a while. Mainstream metal bands like Bring Me The Horizon, Issues, Crown The Empire, I See Stars, I Prevail and so on, have all blended metal and pop together. It feels like the hype for Sleep Token is a bunch of people who haven’t been paying attention for the past ten years and are just now catching up.
What “Take Me Back To Eden” happens to be is hollow. Besides some rare highlights, there’s just nothing interesting going on here. No heart, no soul — this album barely exists, and everything comes together into a corny, melodramatic mush.
Even if I find the metal sections and songs big and fun, everything else manages to be a generic, boneless version of five different genres. The sound is so repulsively clean and plastic, and the performances are so mechanical and processed to the point that everything is largely devoid of any human emotion.
