SLEEP TOKEN - [BLACK] SUNDOWNING

Sleep Token is a British progressive rock / alternative metal / post-metal band from London, England, formed in 2016. The anonymous, masked collective is led by a frontman known only as Vessel, who frames the project as a form of worship devoted to the entity “Sleep”. Their work merges ritualistic imagery with wide-ranging musical influences, uniting heaviness, ambience, and emotional vulnerability under a singular aesthetic. Sleep Token debuted in 2016 with the self-released EP One, followed the next year by Two on Basick Records. After signing with Spinefarm Records, they issued their first full-length album, Sundowning (2019), a slow-unfolding collection that introduced their fusion of progressive metal, electronic textures, and alt-pop sensibility. Their 2021 follow-up, This Place Will Become Your Tomb, deepened the emotional scope of their sound, balancing dense production with moments of intimacy and restraint. The 2023 release Take Me Back to Eden expanded their global audience, blending cinematic arrangements and contemporary R&B elements with djent-inflected heaviness. Their most recent album, Even in Arcadia (2025, RCA Records), continues to blur genre boundaries, emphasizing melody, grandeur, and atmosphere over traditional metal tropes. The band’s live performances — referred to as “rituals” — are known for their theatrical precision and immersive quality, marked by masked anonymity, dimly lit stages, and communal energy. While often categorized as metal or metalcore, Sleep Token’s sound exists in a fluid space between heaviness and fragility, exploring themes of devotion, loss, transcendence, and identity. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.