Critics and fans are at odds about Sleep Token across the pond.
The masked outfit’s breakout album, Even in Arcadia, has been certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry, the U.K. version of the RIAA. The milestone recognizes 100,000 certified units.
Even in Arcadia previously debuted at #1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart following its release in May.
While those numbers clearly suggest there are a lot of Sleep Token fans in the U.K., The Guardian music editor Ben Beaumont-Thomas is not one of them. In an episode of the publication’s Today in Focus podcast, Beaumont-Thomas named Even in Arcadia among 2025’s worst music releases.
“It’s some of the most profoundly turgid music ever made with some of the worst lyrics ever,” Beaumont-Thomas says.
Beaumont-Thomas cites lyrics including “I’ve got eyelids heavy enough to break diamonds” from the Even in Arcadia opener “Look to Windward” and “Are you the guardian angel hacking into my brain cells?” from the cut “Past Self.”
“The band kinda sounds like Maroon 5 if they all had, like, an iron deficiency,” Beaumont-Thomas says. “It’s fascinatingly terrible music.”
Sleep Token’s also experienced a similar commercial success versus critical stature battle in the U.S. — Even in Arcadia debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, though Pitchfork panned it as “Benson Boone with a Spirit Halloween gift card.”
However, the Even in Arcadia single “Caramel” was named one of the best songs of 2025 by New York Times critic Jon Caramanica.
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