© RCA Records - Andy Ford
Second single taken from upcoming album Even In Arcadia is 5 songs smooshed together into one colossal offering. It shouldn't work....
.... but somehow it does.
Following a monumental emergence, Sleep Token returns with their second offering Caramel from their upcoming album Even In Arcadia, set to release next month.
Sleep Token have always kept fans and journos on their toes. There's not one person in the world who can – hand on heart – say that on the first listen they knew where the tracks are going.
But let's be blunt, Sleep Token have earned the right to do whatever the hell they want. There are few bands operating at the same level, be that in Metal or Pop. Fans pore over minute details looking for significance, with each and every announcement or release being met with fervent excitement.
The new track blends delicate melodies with heavy rhythms, 'creating a unique mix of tender beauty and unrelenting force, with vocals that convey haunting vulnerability and unspoken pain'.
Vessel (singer) is crushingly honest here, detailing personal experiences in the band: ‘Every time they try to shout my real name just to get a rise from me,’ he sings, ‘Acting like I’m never stressed out by the hearsay / I guess that’s what I get for trying to hide in the limelight / Guess that’s what I get for having 20/20 hindsight.’
The track is a slowly unfurling melange of all you'll come to have loved about Sleep Token's craft. Speaking with management ahead of the release and ahead of my first listen, I had expected a jazzy embrace, I did not expect things to kick off with an almost nursery rhyme melody. By the time the song has ended, we've traversed Muse, One Republic and Cradle of Filth.
It is bonkers and brilliant. It will not likely win over fans of, say, Sabrina Carpenter, or those that like verse, chorus, verse chorus, but as a bold statement and creative signal, you have to applaud Vessel and the gang for stepping out of the 'lore' and addressing the abuse meted out by toxic 'fans'.
Both Caramel and Emergence are taken from Sleep Token’s fourth album Even In Arcadia – the follow-up to 2023’s Take Me Back To Eden – which is due out on 9 May via RCA Records.
Previous single Emergence, hit the Billboard Hot 100 charts, reached number 1 on the Hot Hard Rock charts, and claimed the top spot on iTunes.
Even In Arcadia is expected to push the boundaries of sound and emotion even further, dissolving into something otherworldly.
Get more info on Sleep Token here.
