Sleep Token is a habitual band I like to write about on this blog. I bring them back again because they just released another song on April 25, 2025, Damocles, the third single of their upcoming fourth album, Even In Arcadia, that will be out in public on May 9, 2025.
The Band
Sleep Token is an English metal band formed in London in 2016. They are an anonymous-masked group that has released three studio albums so far. They are also famous for bending genres, playing mostly progressive rock or metal, but adding R&B, pop, and jazz elements to piano-based music.
Band Members
-
- Vessel – vocals; studio guitars, keyboards, bass, production
- II – drums, percussion
- III – touring member; bass
- IV – touring member; guitars, backing vocals
- Espera – touring members; backing vocals
The Song
The story of Damocles comes from Ancient Greece and teaches a lesson about power and danger. Damocles was a man who admired the king’s great life, so the king let him experience it. However, above Damocles’ head, he placed a sword hanging by a thin thread to show that being powerful also means living with constant fear and risk. Today, “the Sword of Damocles” means a hidden danger that can strike at any moment.
If we apply Damocles’ story to Vessel and Sleep Token, it could represent their fear of losing all, suddenly
He is on top of the world right now, but no one sees when they have problems or what they’re going through; it all gets blocked behind the mask and the character.
Very personal lyrics, too, even with self-deprecation when he says that “he knows these chords are boring”, but I beg to differ, it’s just a chill song, a rock ballad, piano, guitar, drums. Drums sound warm and the piano is marvelous as always, nothing crazy, no R&B, no screams or heavy breakdown, yet that’s ok.
I’m happy that April is almost over, so that means that we will soon be able to experience the whole album, which I’m sure will be amazing.
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Well, I’ve been waking up under blades, blue blossom days
If only Damocles would hit me back
No alabaster carvings or faces on a farthing
Would prevent my head from fading to black
[Pre-Chorus]
And it feels like falling into the sea
From outer space in seconds to me
And I play discordant days on repeat
Until they look like harmony
[Chorus]
When the river runs dry and the curtain is called
How will I know if I can’t see the bottom?
Come up for air and choke on it all
No one else knows that I’ve got a problem
What if I can’t get up and stand tall?
What if the diamond days are all gone
And who will I be when thе empire falls?
Wake up alonе and I’ll be forgotten
[Verse 2]
Well, I know I should be touring
I know these chords are boring
But I can’t always be killing the game
No golden grand pianos or voices from the shadows
Will do anythin’ but feel the same
[Pre-Chorus]
And it feels like falling into the deep
From somewhere way up over the peaks
And I play discordant days on repeat
Until the tape runs out on me
[Chorus]
When the river runs dry and the curtain is called
How will I know if I can’t see the bottom?
Come up for air and choke on it all
No one else knows that I’ve got a problem
What if I can’t get up and stand tall?
What if the diamond days are all gone
And who will I be when the empire falls?
Wake up alone and I’ll be forgotten
[Bridge]
And nobody told me I’d be begging for relief
When what is silent to you feels like it’s screaming to me
Well, nobody told me I’d get tired of myself
When it all looks like heaven, but it feels like hell
[Chorus]
When the river runs dry and the curtain is called
How will I know if I can’t see the bottom?
Come up for air and choke on it all
No one else knows that I’ve got a problem
What if I can’t get up and stand tall?
What if the diamond days are all gone
And who will I be when the empire falls?
Wake up alone and I’ll be forgotten