After self-releasing their debut
EP,
One, in 2016, the band signed with
Basick Records and issued a follow-up EP,
Two, the next year. The group signed with
Spinefarm Records and released their first full-length album (LP),
Sundowning, in 2019, which was followed in 2021 by
This Place Will Become Your Tomb. A third album,
Take Me Back to Eden, was released in 2023. Their fourth album,
Even in Arcadia, was released in 2025 through
RCA Records.
One, Two and other early releases (2016–2019) Their first single, "Thread the Needle," was released in September 2016, which was later revealed to be a part of their self-released debut EP
One in December. The EP featured two additional songs plus alternative piano
arrangements of all three tracks. On 28 February 2017 they released a cover of
Outkast's "
Hey Ya!" on YouTube. In May 2017, it was announced that Sleep Token had signed with independent label
Basick Records and would release their second EP
Two in July. Ahead of the EP's release, the group issued two new singles – "Calcutta" in May and "Nazareth" in June. "Calcutta" received an exclusive premiere through
Metal Hammer, where writer Luke Morton described the song as "an odd and unique mix of
technical metal and expansive
indie soundscapes".
Two was positively reviewed by ''Distorted Sound's'' Matt Corcoran, who noted the combination of elements from multiple genres: "Across these three spellbinding tracks the band fully delivers on their genre-blending promise, moving between light indie atmospherics and dark,
Meshuggah-esque heaviness and covering most of the spectrum in between". Besides releasing music, Sleep Token also began performing live in 2017 as support for larger acts. Their earliest-known performances were at
O2 Academy Islington supporting Norwegian band
Motorpsycho in October and at
Student Central supporting French
synthwave artist
Perturbator in November. 2018 saw Sleep Token focus more on their live shows than releasing music. Only two standalone singles were released that year - "Jaws" in June and "The Way That You Were" in October. Both singles were later issued together on
10" vinyl for
Record Store Day in 2021. In March, Sleep Token was nominated for 'Best New Artist' at the
Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards, "honouring the young artists who have set the metal scene alight over the past 12 months." Early on in the year, they were a supporting act for
Loathe and
Holding Absence. In April they performed at
Maida Vale Studios for the
BBC Radio 1 Rock Show with
Daniel P. Carter. In June they played at Camden Rocks Festival. Sleep Token announced their inaugural headline show on 28 August 2018. It was their eleventh show overall, which was held at
St Pancras Old Church on 11 October.
Sundowning (2019–2020) In June 2019, Sleep Token signed with their first major label:
UMG subsidiary
Spinefarm Records. It was also announced that their debut full-length album,
Sundowning, was confirmed for a November release, with "The Night Does Not Belong to God" released as the first single. The group continued issuing songs from the album every two weeks up to the album release date.
Sundowning received generally positive reviews from music critics.
Kerrang! columnist Tom Shepherd gave the album a rating of four out of five, writing that it contains "moments here to truly savour, and ideas and experiences that feel unique", but noting that "the continuous nature of this dark mood entwined with the group's slow-burning, listless pace does begin to drag across [its] 50-minute runtime". Prior to the album's release, Sleep Token played two sold-out shows in London and
Manchester. Sleep Token were nominated for 'Best UK Breakthrough Band' by the
Heavy Music Awards in 2019. After a short UK tour at the beginning of 2020, several shows were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These included planned appearances at
Knotfest Japan in March,
Download Festival in June, and Madrid's
Mad Cool in July. During the summer, the band released an expanded version of
Sundowning with four new piano-based tracks collectively known as
The Room Below. This release included cover versions of
Billie Eilish's "
When the Party's Over" and
Whitney Houston's "
I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)".
Sundowning received a 'Best Album' nomination by the Heavy Music Awards in 2020.
This Place Will Become Your Tomb (2021–2022) The group planned to return to live performing in March 2021 with five
socially-distanced shows called "The Isolation Rituals", however these were ultimately cancelled due to ongoing pandemic-related concerns. They eventually returned in the summer headlining the second stage at the Download Festival Pilot on 18 June. The day before, the band announced their second album
This Place Will Become Your Tomb and released a new single, "Alkaline". "Alkaline" was followed by "The Love You Want" and "Fall for Me" in August and September.
This Place Will Become Your Tomb was released on 24 September 2021 and was promoted on an eight-date headline tour of the UK and Ireland in November, with support from A.A. Williams. The album earned Sleep Token their first chart positions when it debuted at number 39 on the
UK Albums Chart and number 13 on the
Scottish Albums Chart. In January 2022, Sleep Token were featured as a cover artist for
Metal Hammer magazine. More shows followed in the spring and summer. In April, frontman Vessel performed an "intimate" solo show (joined by only three backing vocalists) dubbed
A Ritual from the Room Below. In May, the group supported
Architects alongside
Malevolence on a short tour of the UK. During the summer months, they play several festivals, including Download, and toured with
Northlane in Australia. Later dates followed in North America supporting
In This Moment with
Nothing More and Cherry Bombs. Sleep Token were nominated for both 'Best UK Artist' and 'Best Live Artist' by the
Heavy Music Awards in 2022.
Take Me Back to Eden (2023–2024) Towards the end of 2022, Sleep Token announced a UK headline tour for January 2023 supported by Northlane, as well as an Australian tour for April/May. The band attracted significant international attention when video footage of their 29 April 2023 performance of "Atlantic" in Sydney, Australia went
viral due to an audience member's audible
fart. Ahead of a string of shows in Germany, the band released the single "Chokehold", their first new material since
This Place Will Become Your Tomb, on 5 January 2023. This was followed by "The Summoning" the next day, "Granite" two weeks later, and "Aqua Regia" the day after. All four tracks were included on the band's third album,
Take Me Back to Eden, which was released in May.
Take Me Back to Eden marked a significant change in the band's creative process, as they stopped working with their long-time producer George Lever in favour of Carl Bown. Vessel also took on a co-producer role with Bown for the first time in the band's career. The month of May also saw the band win 'Best UK Artist' at the 2023 Heavy Music Awards. The band were also booked to perform at that year's summer festivals, including
Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium,
Wacken Open Air in Germany, and
Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK. In December, the band played a standalone headline show at
Wembley Arena, which was also announced in May.
NME reported that tickets had sold out within ten minutes of them going on general sale. During the show, the band revealed new masks to indicate the band entering a new era. Their immense success in 2023 was rewarded with widespread acclaim from the music press. Both
Revolver and
Rock Sound ranked
Take Me Back to Eden as number 1 on their year-end lists,
Kerrang! ranked the album third,
Metal Hammer placed it as the fourth, and
NME placed it 21st.
Metal Hammer readers separately voted
Take Me Back to Eden as the Best Album of the Year. Additionally,
NME named "The Summoning" the 18th best song of the year. Both
Revolver and
Rock Sound honoured Sleep Token with deluxe collector's issues of their magazines.
Revolver recognised Sleep Token as their 'Artist of the Year' for 2023, while
Rock Sound named them the 'Best British Band of the Year.' In an essay penned for
Rock Sound, vocalist
Will Ramos of
Lorna Shore wrote: "There’s been this idea that a metal band needs to be heavy, that you need to have a breakdown in every song... It’s been so refreshing to see...bands like Sleep Token bring all these different sounds to the forefront of metal. [...] It's music like this that keeps [metal] alive. It doesn’t just move the scene forward, it expands it." On 14 February 2024, Sleep Token announced that they signed a new deal with
RCA Records. In the summer of 2024, Sleep Token announced that a
graphic novel titled
Teeth of God would be published on 19 August by
Sumerian Comics. The novel shares a title with the 2024 tours of the same name, and is based on events alluded to on the
Take Me Back to Eden album. It was both written and illustrated by comic artist Huenito and colourist Fabi Marques. On 22 August,
Take Me Back to Eden won 'Best Album of the Year' at the Heavy Music Awards. On 12 December, it also won 'Top Hard Rock Album' at the 2024
Billboard Music Awards. In March 2026,
Metal Hammer ranked
Take Me Back to Eden as the fourth best metal album of the decade "so far." The magazine believes that the album helped the band "[pave] the way for a new school of metal."
Even in Arcadia (2025–present) On 19 February 2025, the band released a TikTok video directing people to a website that teased new music. The website depicted the
Shugborough inscription, which is associated with the painting
Et in Arcadia ego ("Shepherds of Arcadia"), a hint to the title of the upcoming album. The website also allowed users to choose a "
house" (initially assigned via e-mail), and could choose between either House Veridian or The Feathered Host. On 27 February 2025, the band created two separate Instagram accounts for the respective houses to which sheet music was posted, hinting at another unreleased song. On 13 March 2025, Sleep Token released a single, "
Emergence", and announced that their fourth album
Even in Arcadia was to be released on 9 May 2025. Within a week, the single landed on the
Billboard Hot 100 after gaining more than 9.9 million plays in the United States. The band also announced a U.S. arena headlining tour, which was set to commence in September 2025. On 4 April 2025, the band released the album's second single, "
Caramel". In the lead-up to its release, Sleep Token collaborated with North Carolina meteorologist Chris Michaels, known for incorporating metal references into his forecasts, to tease the track through a series of cryptic weather segments. It landed at number 34 on the
Billboard Hot 100 for one week after its release, and received acclaim from the
New York Times, with writer Jon Caramanica placing it atop his "50 Best Songs of 2025" list. On 25 April 2025, the album's third single, "
Damocles", was released. In November 2025, they were nominated for two
Grammy awards: "Emergence" for '
Best Metal Performance' and "Caramel" for '
Best Rock Song'. In December 2025,
Even in Arcadia was awarded 'Album of the Year' by both the
Revolver Awards and the Nocturnal Awards. "Caramel" won 'Radio Song of the Year' and Vessel won 'Masked Musician of the Year' at the Nocturnal Awards as well. On 5 December 2025, Sleep Token released an official
colouring in book through UK independent publisher Rock N’ Roll Colouring. The band continued to earn nominations and awards in 2026.
Even in Arcadia won 'Rock Album of the Year' at the
iHeartRadio Music Awards. Sleep Token was nominated for 'Rock Artist of the Year' at the iHeartRadio Music Awards and 'Group of the Year' at the
Brit Awards. In April, the American Music Awards nominated Sleep Token for 'Best Rock/Alternative Artist',
Even in Arcadia for 'Best Rock/Alternative Album', and their 2025 United States
Even in Arcadia tour for 'Breakout Tour'. ==Artistry and identity ==