“Keep an eye on the road or we will both be here forever.”
Mystical masked metallers Sleep Token have been quite the talk of the town lately, eh?
Ever since the illusive group began gearing up for their brand new album, they seem to have struck a resonant chord within all sides of the metal world, and even reaching some extraneous to it. The release of “Chokehold” certainly met with praise, but it was what followed 24 hours later that seemed to turn heads: “The Summoning”. A six-minute epic, spanning countless sub-genres from nu-metal, metalcore, djent, pop and even funk-twinged blues toward its closing moments, it’s no surprise this is the song that’s seen Sleep Token’s sudden, meteoric rise, having even caught the attention of tenured pop star Demi Lovato.
I feel it’s significant to mention just how much growth this band has seen in recent weeks, just to illustrate further into this just what these new fans may be in for. Prior to the release of “Chokehold”, the band sat at an impressive ~220,000 monthly Spotify listeners. Now, almost exactly a month following its release, the band have reached 1.75 million monthly listeners, with the number steadily growing day by day. Further to, and as a result of this, “The Summoning” has quickly become one of the band’s most popular songs to date, on track to becoming their most streamed song in just a matter of weeks.
“Where are these songs from, though?” I hear some of you ask, though. Are they building up to a record? Are these singles going to continue rolling out? The short answer: yes. However, as Sleep Token tends to have an affinity for doing, be that through their mystical image, or their deep lore, it’s proving to not be quite as clear cut as once assumed.
Shortly before the release of “Chokehold”, a tracklist appeared online from an inside source, purporting that a Sleep Token project was imminent, titled Take Me Back To Eden. While we don’t know precisely when Take Me Back To Eden will see its full release, further explorations within this article will hopefully shed light on just what the band are planning here.
What followed the stratospheric rise of the aforementioned singles was the release of two further tastes of new material: “Granite” and “Aqua Regia” exactly two weeks following. However, upon the two week mark since those singles, no more singles were to be seen. This left both myself, and the greater (now gargantuan) Sleep Token fanbase scratching our collective heads. “What could their plan possibly be then?” I asked myself. Then it dawned on me how it all connects: the moon.
The central visual motif for their recent tours, and purportedly the centrepiece of the album cover itself; the moon features prominently, and I don’t buy any notion that it isn’t wholly intentional. While Sleep Token are certainly no strangers to a mystical and elaborate release campaign (see: Sundowning’s genius rollout strategy), this seems like a step above what has been attempted or achieved prior.
The theory at hand: timed around every new moon, and then its subsequent full moon, the band releases two new songs. This leaves roughly two weeks between single pairs, but not exactly.. While we have yet to reach the next full moon following the release of “Aqua Regia”, the dates of the previous singles line-up almost exactly. The first full moon of the year struck on January 6th, and when did the first two singles drop? January 5th, and January 6th. The first new moon? January 21st, with “Granite” and “Aqua Regia” dropping on January 19th and 20th respectively.
With the album reportedly containing 12 tracks, it’s easy to derive that Take Me Back To Eden’s rollout will be split up into six lots of dual singles, releasing 24 hours apart from each other. From this, I’ve researched the next two full moon cycles to help illustrate when we may be able to expect new music, alongside the names of the supposed tracks that will come around these dates:
- February 5th (Full Moon): “Vore” & “Ascensionism”
- February 20th (New Moon): “Are You Really Okay?” & “The Apparition”
- March 7th (Full Moon): “DYWTYLM” & “Rain”
- March 21st (New Moon): “Take Me Back To Eden” & “Euclid”
While it’s important to reiterate that it seems the tracks are being released around these dates, rather than strictly on, this means the next cycle is due as early as tonight. Time will tell this coming week if the previous Thursday/Friday drops will persist, or if the days will shift dependent on when the cycle falls, but as of now it’s fairly easy to say this is all very exciting, and very elaborate.
Of course, this is just a theory, and until the next wave of singles comes we cannot truly know if I’m onto something or not, but I feel that there is just far too much correlation between the dates and the visual motifs of the new record for there not to be something deeper going on here. At any rate, however, it seems that we are on track to get a brand new Sleep Token record in March, and if the singles are anything to go by, Take Me Back To Eden might just be their strongest work to date.
Fancy taking a trip down memory lane ahead of the new album’s release? Check out my review of the band’s previous effort, This Place Will Become Your Tomb, from back in 2021. For all things Sleep Token, metal, and music in general, keep it locked on Boolin Tunes.