Take Me Back to Eden

Sleep Token released the first two songs from their as-yet untitled third album, "Chokehold" and "The Summoning", on 5 and 6 January 2023, respectively.[1] These were followed on 19 and 20 January by "Granite" and "Aqua Regia", respectively.[2] The slew of releases led to a rapid increase in popularity for the band, who grew from having reportedly "less than 300,000 monthly listeners on Spotify at the beginning of January" to having over 1.58 million by the end of the month.[3] "The Summoning", in particular, became one of Sleep Token's most popular songs to date, reaching number 1 on the Spotify Top 50 Viral Songs chart, as well as receiving over 1 million views on YouTube within two weeks.[4] It was also the band's first song to register on the official UK and US charts, reaching number 14 on the UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart,[5] number 26 on the Billboard Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart,[6] and number 2 on the Billboard Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart.[7]

Take Me Back to Eden was officially announced on 16 February 2023, alongside the release of fifth single "Vore". The album was described in its announcement as "Part 3 of a trilogy, a spectacular chapter-closer in the ongoing Sleep Token saga, a saga that kicked off in earnest with debut album Sundowning".[8] "DYWTYLM" was issued as the sixth pre-release track from the album on 23 April 2023.[9]

The album combines elements of various genres including funk,[10][11] black metal,[10] electronic,[12] pop,[12][13][11] R&B,[13] progressive metal,[13] djent,[12][11] metalcore,[11] and blues.[11]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	60/100[14]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[15]
Clash	5/10[16]
Kerrang!	4/5[17]
The Line of Best Fit	6/10[18]
Metal Hammer	[19]
Metal Injection	6.5/10[20]
MetalSucks	4.5/5[13]
NME	[21]
The Skinny	[22]
Sputnikmusic	[23]

Take Me Back to Eden received mixed reviews from music critics. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 60, based on seven reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[14]

In a five-star review for the NME, Emma Wilkes described the album as "an ambitious, emotional monolith of a record, with all the hallmarks of future classic status", praising its "unpredictability" and adoption of multiple musical styles.[21] In a four-star review for Metal Hammer, Dannii Leivers described Take Me Back to Eden as "a record that not only expands the band's universe and continues to prod metal's boundaries, but considers what it means to be human", proposing that it is "Sleep Token's strongest effort to date".[19]

Clash writer Ims Taylor claimed that while "Some moments are impressive", Take Me Back to Eden is "An album let down by over-indulgence", suggesting that the record features too many songs that "stretch on longer than [they] need to".[16] Similarly, Elliott Burr of The Line of Best Fit complained that Take Me Back to Eden "tends to drag along with bread-and-butter formulas", concluding his 6/10 review by suggesting that it "may not be revolutionary in its music or pantomime, with some evident missteps".[18]

AllMusic compared the band's pop choruses to Imagine Dragons and said, "Sleep Token's overly polished sound starts to feel more overwrought than enjoyable."

• Vessel – vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, synthesisers, production
• II – drums
• Carl Bown – production, engineering
• Ste Kerry – mastering

• Take Me Back to Eden at Discogs (list of releases)