2025-05-09

Today is just about Sleep Token's Even in Arcadia album release. I woke up at 4:30am. Drank water downstairs and then I immediately prepared myself to listen to perhaps one of the best albums I've listened to.

I've been reading through the posts and amateur reviews in twitter and reddit and it seemed like it's an album that's really well-received by the fans, which is I think exceeded everyone's expectations. Partly because this album release felt like an unknown ground in terms of thematic and sound direction. The first three albums were obviously a trilogy that had a proper ending. But at this point, only based on the singles that they released, everyone anticipated that we'll get more of the man behind the mask talking.

While this album still somehow stayed within the band's lore, it also showed a bit of cracks on how Vessel tries to communicate his messages in between the myth and reality, of him as an artist who had immediate success. This album is a reckoning, a reflection on the aftermath of the three albums. It almost reminds me of the idea of discipleship but only more in terms of wrestling with one's own chosen vocation. That is more of a duty beyond the commitment, looking back at the costs and some unintended consequences along the journey, including those that were expected consequences that weigh heavily in one's psyche.

It is a meditation on healing and the idea of where the expected effects of healing went wrong. It is an amalgamation of sound based off the three albums that came before it. At both times, it is probably the most experimental and fullest Sleep Token record that was ever released. It is a continuation of Vessel's own myth-making and also the voice from the man behind the mask.