Nearly two years on from the release of Take Me Back To Eden, Sleep Token return with a cryptic message, likely teasing new music before their Download headline in June. The band have launched an ARG of sorts, with a new website (https://showmehowtodanceforever.com/) featuring a series of letters, scrambled randomly. Putting them into the correct order (D O U O S V A V V M) brings up a textbox for one to input their email, which subsequently sorts the user into one of two ‘houses:’ Arcadia (‘Feathered Hosts’) and Veridian, with the heading, “Behold, A Divide.” Follow-up emails for the two read “The cycle must end” and “The house must endure” respectively, perhaps hinting at a war between factions over Sleep’s continued dominion. The quill/feather and crossed swords which make up the respective logos could represent different philosophies, calling to the famous idiom that ‘the pen is mightier than the sword.’
D O U O S V A V V M is a sequence of letters, known as the Shugborough inscription, from the eighteenth-century Shepherd’s Monument in Staffordshire, an uncracked ciphertext which was speculated to be connected to the Holy Grail – mentioned on the group’s song “Ascensionism”. Further, the source code for the website reveals coordinates for the Shugborough Estate (52°48’05.0″N 2°00’45.0″W), as well as ASCII art of the monument itself. The monument features the word Arcadia (Et in arcadia ego), which was the pre-sale code for the band’s most recent UK tour, and Veridian was also previously used as the pre-sale code for the show supporting Linkin Park.
Download 2025 is likely to be a key event, as there are rumours connecting them with a to-date-unknown band President, who were announced for the festival with a clearly Sleep Token-adjacent message: “At Download Festival, the inauguration begins.” There is certainly merit to the speculation: The group’s Facebook page is managed by Future History Management, who also manage Sleep Token, and their website points to Allotment Productions, who regularly produce designs and merch for the masked collective.
It remains unclear exactly what the British quartet have in the chamber, but an exciting 2025 is certainly ahead, and it seems that a fresh wave of lore is upon us.