2023 Album of the Year
This is what a perfect album sounds like.
Sleep Token - Take Me Back to Eden
(Progressive Metal | Progressive Metalcore | R&B)
There really wasn’t ever another legitimate contender for the title this year.
There’s so much to say about this album. Every single track is perfect. The style across the album is cohesive, even as each individual song twists and bends and blends its way through different genric elements and sounds. The vocals are so thoroughly infused with emotion that even when Vessel slips into harsh vox, I’m leaning into it.
The labels I’ve affixed above are, frankly, limiting and a bit insulting when applied to this album because it is so difficult to capture what Sleep Token have managed here with anything as mundane as a genre label. Really, the best thing you can do is stand somewhere in the vicinity of Country or Folk or Disco, look off towards the distant mountains which denote the huge swaths of genric territory occupied by the supergenres of Rock and Metal, and say “thataway, generally”. But you also can’t forget the bottled water shipped in from the realms of Hip-Hop, R&B, Funk, and Electronica. Or perhaps I should liken these elements to the water cycle because of how thoroughly they suffuse every moment of the album, raining down and filtering into minute cracks in the metallic structure until you can’t tell them apart.
It is such a unique, and incredibly addictive, genric blend. Bear in mind, as well, that this is their third album, as well. They’ve spent a few years perfecting it; I spent time with both of their first two albums this year, and they were both good. The second was pretty excellent, in its own right. Take Me Back to Eden blows them both away. I haven’t been able to press the skip button once – on any single song – since discovering this album.
Of course, I can’t go without including a mention of the news that Sleep Token might possibly cease to exist. For those who are unaware, Sleep Token is one of those bands who wear masks at every performance. And not in the same way that Tobias Forge runs Ghost. Nobody knows who they are. Any of them. By design. The vocalist is Vessel, and the other four are called I, II, III, and IV.
But somebody has publicly attempted to dox III, the bassist. So Sleep Token have purged their socials and left the message “Nothing lasts forever”. But the band is still going ahead with the Teeth of God tour, so really, only time will tell.
If the band does call it quits because of this, they will, at least, go out on top; this album was regarded as raw perfection by a huge number of fans, myself included, and fueled a truly meteoric rise. If they don’t – if there’s still more to come, the next album will start a new story, as Take Me Back to Eden wrapped up the initial trilogy.
Take Me Back to Eden was my favorite release of 2023. Hands down. Nothing else has come close to having the same impact, and, as the rest of this list shows, I listened to so many albums in 2023. Many would reach that level for a song or two, but no other release could match the emotionality, depth, technicality, and sheer beauty so consistently while also upholding such a solid throughline.
If you’re one of the few who have not yet given Take Me Back to Eden a listen, I cannot recommend anything more thoroughly.
If you’re of the portion of the population who is averse to Metal, allow me to recommend three specific songs from the album first so you can at least get a sample:
There are many harder, heavier moments on the album, but there are also several more tracks that just don’t go that hard. It’s more about the emotionality, and generally, the album gets softer as it winds its way to the end.
So that’s everything! For those of you who have followed along all week, thank you!!! I do hope you’ve enjoyed the ride! If you disagreed with any of my rankings, I welcome your comments.
If you haven’t seen any of the rest of the countdown, please use the links below to navigate to the other sections.
AOTY | #2-10 | #11-20 | #21-30 | #31-40 | Honorable Mentions