I’m on a roll, been drawing alllll day 🐦‍⬛ sleep token just inspires me so much. Also yes II is my favourite even though I barely draw him. He’s literally the backbone of the band in my opinion, his drumming is insane and I think he’s definitely one of the best alive drummers. This is also my first time drawing all of the new masks so apologies this kind of sucks, there’s not many references of the new masks 🚡

But I love the new masks, I mean I’ve loved all their masks. They’ve had positives and negatives. The recently previous masks were so cool and individual, they reminded me a lot of mushroomhead masks which is so cool because I love mushroomhead! Also they were just pretty 😏 but they were so individual that the band seemed separated and they didn’t really look like a collective, which not only doesn’t make sense for sleep token’s “cult” theme, but also didn’t really make for cohesive aesthetics between them all and seemed messy. This is something the balaclava type masks BEFORE those did well (the white ones from the early days and the black ones from tpwbyt/ tmbte), they turned the band members into “vessels” as the lore entails and kind of congregated them. However they lacked individuality and personality.

So personally I think these new masks are just right, they solidify the band as a collective as they all somewhat match. But also there are slight variations in the masks from what I could see (similar to the Bob Basset Ghoul masks from Ghost’s Impera era). For example, II has a more furrowed brow similar to his past mask, III has a neutral face and IV has more worried eyes. Personally I think these definitely represent their personalities well lol, but the cohesive golden skull design is just perfect. Not only that, but the fact all the band members have these uniformed robes is super cool and adds to the cult essence. Anyways, I love the new Even in Arcadia theming, and how sleep token went from a general witch crafty theme in their early days, to a thalassaphobic type theme with tpwbyt, then an eldritch and cosmic horror theme with tmbte and now finally a dark fantasy vibe with eia. IT’S JUST SO COOL 😭🙏

Okay stop yapping nobody cares about your obsession with masks and sleep token 🔫🔫🔫 I’m making this my pfp because I’m proud of it! :D

I go back to this video every now and again, I’m sorry I can not take III seriously 😭💔 https://youtu.be/ezu5riQ5fgw?si=674mschg96UuWb6L

My dad said I literally breathe sleep token and he is correct

Wow you guys really liked this drawing I should draw more sleep token guys together, right? (I’m gonna do it anyways whether you like it or not) Tempted draw the TMBTE masks together now too. Or maybe… all of the mask variations if I feel motivated enough 😈 but lowkey I’m in the mood to draw ghost fanart right now, especially since Swiss left recently I kind of wanna draw him in honour of his very chaotic legacy. I can’t believe I was among the last people who saw him because I was at the first skeletour. I might do it in my sketchbook 🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛

Thank you twizzly gummy cookie

Give. Them. Back. 😡💢

NoooooOOOOooo

I’m glad you like it 🔥

Oh goodness UH- QUICK SOMEONE ASK ME ABOUT SLEEP TOKEN SO I CAN AVOID A HOME INVASION 🦟

Okay so Vessel is the frontman, the main singer obviously. He has an amazing voice it’s insane. Sleep token aren’t super heavy, but they use a lot of metal breakdowns and screams in quite a few songs (it’s hard to put a genre on them because they experiment a lot, but they could for sure be considered prog metal). At first, I wasn’t keen on how Vessel screamed during live rituals, it kinda sounded like botched fry screaming icl 💔 but ever since EIA (even in Arcadia) released he’s improved his screams so much. When I watched the live debut since the new album I was so shocked. What are you and what did you do to Vessel, yk? 😭 Even at the end of EIA, in the song infinite baths, there’s an almost 4 minute long climax containing only this super epic black metal type screaming, which by the way literally contains a breakdown within a breakdown. HOW COOL IS THAT? Probably the heaviest sleep token song in a while. Okay wait I’m getting extremely off topic where was I…

Vessel is also super talented, along with writing his amazing lyrics he can play piano, electric guitar and acoustic guitar. There used to be another member (an Espera, which is just the word for a female Vessel… aka a female member of the band) who used to play the piano parts of songs during the lives up until the TPWBYT era (this place will become your tomb). But she mysteriously disappeared and now Vessel does ALL of the piano himself whilst singing. It’s so sick watching him go from melodramatic piano playing to running across the stage screaming. There’s also rumours that in the actual recording studio it’s only Vessel and II who work on the songs and III and IV are only there for the live performances, but I don’t believe that

So as I mentioned before, II is the drummer. He is just so insanely talented, he inspires me wanna start drumming again honestly. He is also a co-composer of many of the sleep token songs. Sleep token songs are often very reliant on the drums, so I’d argue him and Vessel are the most important parts of the group. However, he doesn’t play any other instruments. BUT I’d HIGHLY recommend you go watch his playing on YouTube. He’s part of Drumeo, which is this YouTube channel that makes drum content and interviews famous drummers. He showcases his drumming in more detail on there and even has the ONLY in person sleep token interview. Sleep token are very separated from the fans in a lot of ways, they don’t speak on stage beside singing (for the most part, III often does not abide by that rule lol), they don’t interact with fans on social media for the most part, and they barely do any interviews. The little interviews they have done are for metal magazines and such, but II has done the only on camera interview.

HELP yeah tbh I wouldn’t be surprised because Vessel is always using eating/ consuming/ mouth and teeth metaphors (like in every other song he’s talking about vore or teeth of God or something he’s just silly like that)

The main reason all the members are so quiet is because 1. They want to stay anonymous, 2. They have lore of course and they tell a story through their music and also other forms of media (such as the sleep token graphic novel). But they’re very very mysterious about it so it’s not like people have a clear picture of the lore yet. The only clear confirmed information we have are the events of the graphic novel (which in itself is a bit vague) and their very first interview where Vessel stated the very basics of sleep token. They are Vessels for an ancient deity called “Sleep”. He’s called “Sleep” because his actual name is unspeakable to the human tongue, and he appears to the Vessels in their sleep. Their music is an “offering” to the God, like a “token”… so, Sleep Token!

Oh my God yes II can PLAY alright please if you are interested go watch him jsjsjsjsj

People interpret Sleep in many ways, a lot of people think the story is about Vessel’s relationship with the God Sleep as their music definitely follows a narrative of a toxic or abusive relationship, I won’t go deep into it but there’s this theory called “the trilogy of trauma” that was highly accepted amongst the community. But then the new album came along and now everyone is confused again because it doesn’t fit with a lot of the fandom’s established lore and yada yada nobody cares OKAY

Where was I…

III NEXT. Bassy boy. He plays bass. He’s very well known as being the most chaotic guy ever and he is EXTREMELY fruity. Sleep token have this thing where they get REALLY into the music… and then they start kissing each other and getting a bit 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 👅 there’s this one clip of Vess literally GRINDING on III during a very homosexual coded song. It gets weird when you sell your soul to an angry eldritch God, makes you get freaky with your band mates I think. Anyways, the point is he is always involved in this freaky activity. Also he does speak on stage. Kind of? He likes to shout to the crowd, mess around, and is really sassy. Okay I’m yapping this has nothing to do with his bass playing, but he also puts recordings up on his insta of his playing live using this pov shot from the neck of his bass and it’s really cool!

OH okay hold on lore

So basically EIA is amazing, absolutely phenomenal album and brought so many new fans to Sleep Token. But it’s a bit different from the others because it’s way less mysterious and metaphorical. Originally, sleep token songs had this kind of phenomenon where you could pick any song and probably relate it to your own trauma. Vessel once gave a message in the ritual from the Lafayette in London- “we are here to project ourselves onto one another”. This is because they’re so vague and metaphorical, the story is really hidden. But, even in Arcadia is so personal. Majority of the songs in there feel like a diary for Vessel, with many containing clear lyrics about Vessel’s personal problems. This is throwing a lot of theorists off, especially because in TMBTE, the last song of the album- “Euclid” -was supposed to be an end to the “trilogy of trauma”. Personally, I think there’s quite a few lines and songs from EIA that hint at lore. (Hold on running out of space)

YES OMD III REMINDS ME OF MURDOC ICL. Especially with the old masks he used to show his hair and I’m sorry there was this moment where he had this weird length, red hair and it looked so damaged 😭💔 and he has a cockney accent it’s so silly /pos

Okay back to lore… for example, the entire song “Emergence” and the ending lyrics of “infinite baths”: “If it's blood that you want from me You can empty my arteries Will you halt this eclipse in me? Will you halt this eclipse in me? In me Teeth of God Blood of man I will be What I am” Like come on guys, you’re complaining about the new album being too personal but where are you analysing these lyrics 🙄 especially because “teeth of God” IS LITERALLY THE GRAPHIC NOVEL’S NAME! And the name for their whole tmbte (take me back to Eden) era’s last tour. But jokes aside I definitely agree. Songs like Caramel, Damocles, Past self and Gethsemane are all very obviously personal songs for Vessel, which is completely valid. It’s his art and he can do what he wants with it. And it’s not like he hasn’t made more personal songs before, such as Missing limbs or Are you really okay. It’s just never really been this many, so I think theorists are tripping over because it’s a lot of disconnection from the lore.

It’s on my bucket list to go to a gorillaz concert one day lol, I used to love em a lot more but I still listen occasionally

Yeah I think that’s a problem in the fandom too, people want EVERYTHING to be lore related. Not everyone does of course, I don’t, I just love the music and the aesthetics… the lore is a plus lol. But a very loud crowd definitely does. It sucks as well because a lot of the theories kind of stem back to the same idea that Vessel is or was in a relationship with sleep. Which is fine and dandy, but let’s be more creative guys. This isn’t the confirmed story remember 😭💔

Wait okay let me talk about IV finally

IV or his nickname is also “Ivy” is the guitarist! He’s so cool frfr, honestly a close contender to be my favourite. Because sleep token also use a lot of layered sound and screams, he also does backing screams! For example in “The summoning” or in “Caramel”. There’s also an iconic moment in The summoning (which is their most popular song by the way) where IV does a solo, and Vessel always goes and does something silly on stage during it. It’s known as “the summoning shenanigans” 😭 there’s countless examples but my favourite ones are this time where IV LITERALLY SAT ON VESSEL WHILST HE DID HIS SOLO, Vessel started doing bicep curls and push ups, Vessel started helping a random staff member with a Nintendo switch game they were playing on stage, Vessel just laid flat on the ground like a plank for a couple seconds anddd there was this one time he started crawling towards IV and kind of knelt beside him and hugged IV’s legs like idk what he was doing…

Yeah it’s a bit like that except less toxic and aggressive, and also the lore is actually good and definitely thought out unlike whatever FNAF has got going on

IDK I’ll find the clip

I FOUND IT https://youtube.com/shorts/JvJn_av9tcI?si=etfgZbT989HGC6ZI

But it’s well known that Vessel is definitely a video game nerd. Actually at my ritual, to transition into the start of “Rain” (which begins with a bit of piano) Vessel started playing the Halo theme, but I think I was the only one in my area that noticed it 🥲 but it was so cool. He’s always adding in references to stuff. I know he’s played a bit of the legend of Zelda ocarina of time theme in a transition to Rain before too, and he even made an Alien reference in Emergence. One of the lines is “burst out of my chest and hide out in the vents”, like yeahhh I see what you did there bro 😏

Also I’m sorry but a band with this cool of an aesthetic, and this interesting lore cannot be anything but a bunch of nerds /pos it’s so awesome 🙌

What’s that :0

ALSO ALSO IV literally performed the song “Antivist” with bring me the horizon at one of their concerts! It’s such a cool video honestly, Oli Skye’s puts one of the balaclavas on and the whole crowd is like YESSSS as Ivy walks out omd. I’m pretty sure a lot of sleep token’s fanbase also like BMTH because they’re both British metal bands that are also quite modern and have hot lead singers (you didn’t hear that from me). So the crowd just goes crazy for him, it’s one of my favourite sleep token clips even though it’s not their show specifically lol

Oooo cool lol yeah Rain is just one of their songs from the TMBTE album. Which means it has a really cool Eden creature to accompany it. The song is a bit 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 👅 though

Will you promise not to invade my house now

GOD DAMNIT

What should I draw them doing? I might just redraw some silly moments from on stage

Okej yeahh

DANKE!