Sleep Token’s “Take Me Back To Eden”: Play-By-Play Review

Though I invest most of my time in electronic music, I have a soft spot for prog metal. Throughout my entire childhood, you would never find my dad turning on the radio in his truck — only swapping out one CD in the player for another in the console, both nearly identical in sound. Daily car rides, both to and from school and gymnastics practice, consisted of almost nothing except Dream Theater.

As an adult, my brother began to explore prog metal groups of his own. Invent Animate, Periphery, Between The Buried And Me, and anybody else in that ballpark. We have grown up without much in common, to be honest, but music will always be the strongest link. As we both age, I am more frequently sending him a Spotify link or two with the message u might like this or this fucks or any other affirmation that I, too, enjoyed what I sent him and it wasn’t just a throwaway suggestion. Most recently? Sleep Token’s Take Me Back To Eden, released May 19th, 2023.

As a whole, this record is just outstanding. Sleep Token has such a solid grasp on what makes listeners tick. Jazz. Electronica. Funk. Rock. Metal. They don’t alienate the existing niche they’ve carved out as a prog metal band, but rather, introduces them to sounds they might not otherwise hear in a context they already enjoy. The genre-jumping is graceful and authentic. Let’s take a look at all the characteristics that, the first time in my life, might make this an AOTY outside of my typical bubble of electronic music.

Chokehold

so you keep me sharp and test my worth in blood

Both musically and thematically, this feels like the first track of the album. The Garden of Eden was, after all, the birthplace of sin. Of tragedy. Of the intrinsic complexity of humankind. The softer, more emotional guitar that comes in during the second half parallels the human experience of the comedown that follows rage. The guilt and the fear, the question of, “What if I was too much? What if I can’t fix it this time?”

That held note at the end reminds me of the note that Amy Lee holds at the end of Evanescence’s “Bring Me To Life” — another staple of my upbringing, courtesy of my dad. This track introduces Sleep Token, their style, and their direction for this album quite well while still leaving much to the listener’s imagination.

The Summoning

you’ve got my body, flesh and bone / the sky above, the earth below

This was how I found Sleep Token. “There is no way this guy just put a funk breakdown at the end of this song,” people across TikTok were saying. I immediately took hold of this track, eagerly awaiting those that would succeed it. I had no idea that Take Me Back To Eden was even going to exist until I took a look at his Twitter in late April.

This one might be my favorite showcase of what their lead singer is capable of vocally. Those high notes, especially the one at 3:00 that is immediately followed by a perfectly-placed death growl, make you lean back in your chair and just laugh in disbelief. The stuttering arp that sweeps back and forth during the interlude of this track is hypnotic, and then it drops into the most unexpected breakdown of my entire life. Did I mistake you for a sign from God? The refrain of the original bridge from the beginning of the song? Fucking come on, man. I have no other words. Such a great choice of a lead single for an even greater record.

Granite

you only drink the water when you think it’s holy

This one is giving. I wrote that description in a 12 AM haze, but it’s staying. This song fucking gives. The beat is surprisingly fresh. I think that these are some of the more literal, less poetic lyrics of Take Me Back To Eden; but don’t be mistaken — they hit just as hard. I can hear this one being SCREAMED by crowds. The instrumental itself parallels the story: the a mellower beginning acts as a lament to a love gone sour, and it becomes resentment and rage when the metal breakdown hits. Just as the album title indicates, this record is a journey back to the biblical origin of… everything. Sin, hate, infatuation, loss, all of it. TMBTE is a wonderful taste of both biblical allusions and real, commonly experienced thoughts and feelings.

Aqua Regia

Out of (I love) Eden’s vices running through my veins

As one of very few songs on this record without the typical metal breakdown, it acts as a sort of interlude. The calm before the storm. Scientifically, aqua regia is used as an electrolyte that produced the absolute highest quality gold — hence why the Latin name means “royal water”. It dissolves gold, in fact. There’s definitely something poetic to be said there. This track is more introspective; there’s less mentions of a second person or an outside force, and more descriptions about the self, which makes the jazzier direction this song goes in quite fitting. This just might be the play-this-for-anyone-and-they’ll-love-it track of TMBTE.

Vore

my life is torn, my bones, they bleed / my metaphors fall short in the end

This intro was a little too intense of a start for me. I find death growls to have little appeal, but considering it’s kind of on its own in this record, it fits quite well. There is a time and place for such sections of a track, and this was surely a good choice on Sleep Token’s part. I would not have chosen this as the title track for the collection of all the singles released before the album, though. Sending my friends a Spotify EP titled Vore lays out two paths in front of me: Either I innocuously go, “hey, check out this album,” and endure the pain of not being able to predict and do damage control on their response, OR I make a joke about the title that immediately clocks me as a person who knows what vore is. Such is the price of growing up on the Internet, I suppose. Nonetheless, the instrumental and singing vocals are (unsurprisingly) beautiful — perhaps some of the best on the entire album.

Ascensionism

turn me into your mannequin and i’ll turn you into my puppet queen

I don’t like the trap direction of this one quite as much as “The Apparition”, but even that margin is awfully small. The lyricism is outstanding, and the guitar breakdown is well worth the wait. The briefly hyper-autotuned segment is perfectly short and pop-y. There is a certain sensuality to this track, and after the intensity of “Vore”, it almost seems to tell the story of a person finding themselves in a rebound relationship. There’s that visceral feeling of the tunnel vision taking over, and the allure of anything that draws the pain away. This is the siren song of TMBTE, and for that, the shift in tone makes perfect, poetic sense.

A strong handle on production is so important. This is why I always lobby for popular singers/songwriters to not just have producers in their corner, but producers with established careers in electronic music. They see details like nobody else, they know technology like nobody else, and they have a tremendous ear for what (literally) strikes a chord with a listener. And though Sleep Token’s niche lies with metal, they could easily hold a candle to the likes of Lorn, Burial, Lapalux, and plenty of other producers I find dark, complex, and outstanding.

Are You Really Okay?

you woke me up one night / dripping crimson on the carpet

I love the idea of thousands of people standing quietly in a stadium, swaying back and forth to this song. It acts as yet another welcome lull in energy. I really need to publish this editorial and this is somehow the last track I have left, but please don’t mistake the brevity for dislike. “Are You Really Okay?” is beautiful, thoughtful, and pushes our narrator’s story further toward their downfall — or perhaps, their enlightenment.

The Apparition

loaded dreams still leave me empty

A compelling trap beat is an terribly difficult needle to thread in 2023. Unless you’re these guys, of course. They do it repeatedly across this record and none of them fall flat. If “Ascensionism” is the hubris, “The Apparition” is the hamartia. Love simply meant to fill space is not love; it is only a mirage.

I adore the last thirty seconds of the track, when the beat returns and fades out. It sounds just like Clams Casino! That is so fucking awesome! It’s long enough to pique the listener’s interest, but short enough to not overstay its welcome in a generally prog-metal album. Sleep Token uses just the right amount of trap elements in order to make its use feel celebratory, not ironic or nostalgic.

DYWTYLM

do you wish that you loved me? do you pull at the chains?

This could easily be a radio-hit track with vocals from someone like Alessia Cara or Liam Payne, and I think that’s hilarious. Sleep Token has the exceptional ability to slide a pop song in the back half of this record, and it just works. They do it better than the likes of other established EDM-pop producers like Zedd, The Chainsmokers, and Lauv, among many others. The beat doesn’t pull away from the introspective lyrics, either; now that our story has passed its terrible realization of a fake love, there’s room for gentleness and curiosity. There is still lingering grief and questions, but they’re not handled with aggression anymore. For now, at least.

Rain

up like the moon and out like the hounds

Allow me to be a little bit of a loser for a minute. I do a lot of writing and worldbuilding, with music at the forefront of my reference material. The section from 3:00 on feels like a hero reaching a forgiving, open hand to an old friend made their enemy; that adversary, overcome by fear, rage, and regret, rejects it. And the realization hits for the hero: I have to kill the person I love most, or die trying. Maybe that’s just me projecting my own works onto my favorite songs, but the ability to create a feeling so viscerally is one of my favorite things about prog metal in general. This one quickly made itself my favorite when I finally listened through the whole record, probably for its reminiscence to the radio-hit rock/metal I grew up hearing on the airwaves. As a storyteller, I don’t think there is a better storytelling track on TMBTE than this one. “Rain” is for the girls who would find every weird way to stream “Decode” by Paramore before it finally ended up on Spotify. We’re claiming it.

Take Me Back To Eden

grow back your sharpest teeth, you know my desire

The quality of every song on this record is bewildering. I’m in love with the nature foley in this one. Sleep Token does a beautiful job at playing into the biblical themes. What better song to turn into a hymn than the title track? Their lead has such a unique voice that is a hundred-man choir all on its own, rivaling the likes of Amy Lee of Evanescence. I’m sure they get that comparison a lot, but it’s a welcome one, to be sure. I have full faith that they can sweep crowds of people off their feet in just the same way Lee has for her entire career. The trap sections continue to not overstay their welcome, acting as a necessary energy lull rather than filler.

I honestly don’t know what to make of this song, lyrically. It tells a story of complete and utter self-destruction, but self-preservation, as well. The fear of the unknown, but also the knowledge that what’s comfortable isn’t always good. No amount of self-sought fury will bring back the glory of innocence, they sing. At last, we finally reach the acceptance in this story. I could not think of a better, more self-contradictory story to be the title track.

Euclid

give me the twilight two-way vision

What a beautiful, poetic conclusion. It almost feels theatric. I was shocked when my brother said this was one of his favorites on the record. My brother, who listens to obscure Scandinavian metal bands I couldn’t even begin to look for, who can handle all the death growls that frequently decorates prog metal, pulled to this song in particular. I suppose it’s been a lesson that what hooks me for electronic music and what hooks him on metal are not all that different. Complex sound design. Overcharged guitars intertwined with sweeping synths.

There is an aggression, yet a softness to this record. Ugliness, yet sensuality. Something that Sleep Token’s Take Me Back To Eden and Ethel Cain’s Preacher’s Daughter have in common is this act of worship. They are entirely different musically — Preacher’s Daughter is inspired by the country and church music that every Southern Baptist grows up around — but conceptually, there is so much that they bond over. The fragility of the human body. Love that does nothing but hurt. Intimacy. The idea that you can have so much rage that it turns into something almost biblical. It’s all there, just in two different shapes. I think there is a wonderful alliance to be made between the Ethel Cain girls and the Sleep Token boys.

I have a complicated relationship with masked musicians. Artists like Marshmello and Tokyo Machine have much of their identity banked on the gimmick, so when they’re revealed to just be Some White Guy, their music really does not hold up as well as it should. But Sleep Token could reveal their identities at any minute and nothing would be lost. The anonymity gimmick supports their music, in all its biblicality, not the other way around.

Take Me Back To Eden brings out the best of the best in progressive metal. The knack for detailed production, the ability to tell an emotional story, and exposing their audiences to fresh sounds they didn’t know they needed. The more I listen, the more I love it. It is so easy to tell when a record is made by people who truly care about every little detail. I have no idea how Sleep Token will possibly top this, but I have no doubt they will.