This Is Not a Review of the New Sleep Token Record

Well, I guess it's true that history is a cycle. I originally wrote this entire thing a week after Sleep Token released their latest record, Even in Arcadia, and then thought, "Why should I publish this? What is the point?" But upon reflection and seeing the band get a Grammy nomination, both in a metal and rock category, I thought maybe I should revisit this in case a flood of new think pieces come out saying how this is a horrible thing.

But let's get some things out of the way first.

Sleep Token is an anonymous (even though they've been doxed) masked group of weirdos stationed in the UK, who have had a banner year off their fourth studio release. Don't mistake; I say weirdos with love here.

2025 has been big for them, as they put out a new record, Even in Arcadia, and as someone who has been listening to this band since before Sundowning was released, I think the record is pretty good. Admittedly, it's not as good as their last, Take Me Back to Eden, which, incidentally, has recently reached number one Billboard status with a vinyl reissue. It feels more like This Place Will Become Your Tomb, a middle album designed to connect two other records, and therefore not as strong as its sandwiching records. Still, it mixes djent, ballads, hip hop, trap, and RnB into a delicious slurry that sounds unique to the metal landscape. It also managed to snag the number one Billboard spot for both the UK and the US, and have some of the largest album sales for anything under the rock umbrella for the past two years.

TL;DR: It's a good record from a band doing something different in metal that people seem to like.

But this is not a review of the new Sleep Token record.

Now, before I continue, let me be clear. I actually don't really care if you hate Sleep Token. You can actively dislike any band you choose, and that's fine. I've been calling them "Elven John" since this record came out, and heard the prominent piano in "Damocles", and you can feel free to steal that and use it as you see fit, positively or negatively. I myself hate many bands and the music they make, sometimes with no real adequate reason, and that's okay.

So it was that, as I was listening to the record again on the way to work and contemplating how this band has galvanized the metal community, it occurred to me that I wasn't listening to a new, well produced record by a hot metal band that has managed to bring in new fans and managed to snare a headlining spot at Download Festival, one of the UKs largest rock/metal fests. No, in fact, I was listening to a flashpoint, a new chapter in a common and depressing metal argument. This was, in fact, the new "not metal band".

Let me explain.

The "not metal band" is a band that, for whatever reason, manages to gain popularity among people outside the metal community, and, through this process, becomes not metal. This can be an immediate dislike, such as with every band that has the audacity to be heavy, but still palatable by the mainstream (see: every radio "butt rock" band). It can also happen to bands over a gradual period of time as they gain popularity, such as with Ghost, the last not metal band to dare to make music that could be enjoyed by people outside of metal. It can even happen if other elitists try to jump onto a band, such as the case of Deafheaven releasing Sunbather and the indie rock Pitchfork crowd actually liking it.

In any other genre, these situations would be celebrated as wins; other people coming in and noticing a genre that they are less familiar with would supposedly be good for that genre. Afterall, it expands the audience and shows there is an appetite for something that people may have overlooked or dismissed.

But this is most definitely not the case in metal. People discovering and trying to get into metal should be a win. It should be what people strive for. And in fact, this attitude does not happen in other genres.

When Charlie XCX put out brat this year, an innovative album that mixed up multiple sub genres of pop and dance music, I didn't hear any chatter about how someone liking the album meant they "didn't really like pop music" or that they were clearly "some pop poser". Pop fans were not saying, "Well, that isn't REAL pop. True pop is what Cyndi Lauper was doing in the 80s."  

Hell, I know metalheads who LOVED that record and would proudly say so, but, more importantly than that, it isn't the first time that metalheads decided to deride another genre of music for its exclusionary practices.

Remember last year, when Beyoncé released a country record? I saw members of the metal community say, "It's really not fair that country stations and the Country Music Association aren't recognizing Beyoncé since she's mainly from another genre." Of course, that was smugly followed by, "But, I guess we should expect it, amirite? You know, country people and how they exclude people that aren't already in the scene, especially if they look different from anyone else that has prominence."

But it's very hard to take these stances seriously when "trve cvltists" will not just take a shot at a band, but people who would dare admit they like a band. These fans of whatever particular pariah band the community have decided are "not worthy," will dismissively say, "Well, people who like not bands don't REALLY like metal, so they aren't part of the community and their opinion doesn't matter."

And this is not just reserved for single bands and their fans. As we all know, bands exist within genres, and there are entire genres of "not metal". Hair metal, screamo, metalcore, and, of course, who can forget nu-metal, which was pilloried until the recent new nu-metal revival and all the contrarians came back to say they actually liked nu-metal all along.

So we must ask ourselves, what do all those genres have in common? Well, they aren't musically the same, clearly. The time periods aren't the same, so that's not it. I'm going to oversimplify a bit here, but these genres and bands do have something in common, and that is simply that they became popular to people outside of the metal sphere.

"Well, no, it's because they're not heavy, you fool."

But is that it, Strawman in a battle vest?

Heilung, Emma Ruth Rundle, Alecast, Opeth's middle to late discography... none of these are the heaviest things that have ever come out, yet they are still under the metal umbrella, and there is very little argument in the community about that.

"Well, all those things are just unoriginal."

Oh, I see Strawman. Nice obscure band patch you have there, by the way. So then, let me pose this question to you: Is the same black metal record that is trying to be Emperor from the 90s original? The countless thrash bands that desperately want to be a Bay Area band from the 80s? That's what originality looks like? The death metal bands that can't even seem to get a different font for their band names are original? How many stoner bands are LITERALLY trying to be Black Sabbath, and they get a mammoth pass?

The truth is, metal fans don't really like innovation. Metal fans like slight variations on things they already like.

And, that's okay. That's actually pretty normal. But it is very difficult for you to convince me that you like originality when a band dares to do something unique, gains some popularity, and they get shunned by the community.

"Well, everyone knows that if a lot of people like something, it isn't good."

Strawman, c'mon... that's a real argument you're trying to make? Because let me tell you, the inverse is also not true. Just because a majority of people don't like something doesn't make it good either. And, further to that, if you're actively trying to keep people out unless it's on your specific terms, you are not a welcoming, open-minded community.

I'm not sure if everyone else has noticed this, but metal and its fans are getting old because that's how time works. It's also no secret that metal does not have the drawing power that it did in its heyday. Now, I could make a very salient argument that 44% of tickets sold to attend Download Festival this year were to first-time attendees, but I'm sure that has nothing to do with a popular band that younger fans enjoy headlining on one of the days.

And before you simplify in order to misrepresent my argument, is Sleep Token the only reason that is happening? Of course not. But having a band that for a while was all over TikTok headlines certainly didn't deter young people from going to a festival, and I'm not sure how you could argue otherwise.

Now, if you're a fan of metal, the above info should fill you with a bit of hope. Young people might take up the torch and actually keep the genre going with fresh and interesting ideas, and take something you care about and breathe fresh life into it... If they stick around, that is. Because you know what has never helped to make people stay in the scene? The elitism that metal has cultivated through its outsider mentality.

Speaking of, one argument someone threw at me was that Sleep Token was, and I quote, "diluting metal," as opposed to other bands that were "distilling metal," citing slam as an example of the latter in relation to death metal.

Now, I find this argument not even worth engaging with, but apropos of nothing, hey, did you also notice that metal has a higher amount of real Swastika wearing, piece of shit Nazis versus other music genres? There is literally a subgenre of black metal, National Socialist Black Metal, that is dedicated to espousing the most heinous and stupid ideas the worst and dimmest among us want to put forward. Do you think that these drooling simpleton white supremists feeling free to form an entire subgenre and flaunt it in and among the community might... maybe... possibly... have something to do with the fact that metal purposely and actively tries to discourage new people from joining? Does it try to actively keep out "undesirables" and will describe something new as "diluting" the purity of a proud lineage they think themselves a part of?

Just to be clear, because if I don't make this point, this will all be written off as entirely invalid, I am not saying that if you like metal or are even just your run-of-the-mill elitist, you're one of these Nazis. What I am saying is that this attitude of exclusion and looking down at people as inferior doesn't exactly make people who hold similar ideas in other areas feel as unwelcome as they should. In fact, some of these, and I will be generous here, "problematic" artists are not shouted down, and, in fact, are actively venerated. Alex Terrible in Slaughter to Prevail had a Nazi tattoo, and even though he now says he made "bad decisions in his youth," he doesn't really go into detail about what that means. Phil Anselmo of Pantera has done multiple Nazi salutes and been known to throw out racial slurs, and then hides behind "being drunk". People are wearing Burzum shirts to shows with no shame, but I'm sure this list of non-exhaustive examples is just nothing.

But fine. Make the same "poser leave the hall" comments and make sure to express that all other people are not worthy to stand next to you in liking something. You're doing your part to try to keep people here by making sure they feel unwelcome. That is what metal is for, right? Exclusively for the outsiders, those shunned by society. "You must be this socially awkward to hear these blast beats," right? It would be funny if it weren't so deeply sad.

What will welcoming these people do to metal exactly? Will it mean that Methwitch won't continue to make music that sounds like hell made real? Will it mean power metal will have to stop singing exclusively about dragons, fire, and metal? Will it mean Cannibal Corpse will suddenly have a lead singer who is obsessed with adorable plushies? Well, if you're worried about the last one, I've got bad news for you, sunshine.

No, none of the terrible things you envision will come to pass, just like it didn't when Metallica became a worldwide phenomenon. Just like it didn't happen when nu-metal brought hip hop and metal together, much to the chants of purists saying, "Keep your rap out of my metal." We've seen this all before, and metal has not diluted from it. It has become stronger, better, and taken more seriously as an artistic medium.

And if you do think that metal will be lost with this influx of new sounds and ideas, then you shouldn't be here. I would rather stand with a Sleep Token fan, hungry to discover new things and maybe only dip their toes into metal, than to listen to the same musical cliches that you can't and seem hellbent to never let the genre change or evolve.

And so let me end this by turning around the popular thing that I have seen bandied about metalhead circles:

"People that gatekeep and actively shit on people for their musical choices... They don't REALLY like metal. They should leave the hall, for they are not the trve cvltists that metal deserve and their poser opinion does not matter." 

Andrew Weiler is the host of Grade A Explosives, on-air Sundays from 4-6 pm. He is also the Metal Director at CJLO.