The Guardian’s music editor Ben Beaumont-Thomas has delivered a scathing critique of British metal band Sleep Token. He called their latest work the worst music release of 2025 in comments shared on The Guardian’s Today In Focus Podcast.
Beaumont-Thomas was responding to a question about what he considered the worst music release of the year. His assessment of Sleep Token was particularly harsh.
“Many people thought it was Taylor Swift, but I think there’s actually one that was even worse. It’s the British band Sleep Token, who are kind of the biggest British metal band in a generation, first British metal band to get to number 1 in the U.S. since Def Leppard in 1992,” he said.
The music editor acknowledged the band’s striking visual presentation while criticizing their musical output.
“They kind of have an amazing image, they sort of look like they stepped out of this kind of folk horror movie with all these amazing masks. And the lead singer is called Vessel and the other guys in the band are just called II, III, IV. And no one knows their names,” he continued.
However, Beaumont-Thomas reserved his harshest criticism for the band’s sound and songwriting.
“But it’s some of the most profoundly turgid music ever made with some of the worst lyrics ever. The band kind of sounds like Maroon 5 if they had an iron deficiency. It’s fascinatingly terrible music,” he said.
The comments specifically targeted Sleep Token’s album ‘Even In Arcadia’ as his pick for the worst release of 2025.
The harsh criticism comes as Sleep Token has established itself as one of the most enigmatic acts in modern metal. The band has built a devoted following through their mysterious persona and genre-blending approach.
Loaded Radio reported that Sleep Token is an anonymous English rock collective formed in London in 2016. The band’s members wear masks and cloaks as part of their carefully crafted identity. Their leader and primary songwriter is known only as Vessel.
The anonymity that Beaumont-Thomas referenced has become central to the band’s appeal and commercial strategy. Ultimate Guitar noted that the “masked collective” has made significant waves in the music industry since its formation in 2016. Their mysterious approach has contributed to their growing fanbase.
Sleep Token’s sound represents a deliberate fusion of multiple genres. This may explain both their commercial success and the polarized critical reception highlighted by Beaumont-Thomas’s comments. The band has been signed to major labels including Spinefarm and RCA. They have attracted attention across rock and metal scenes for blending metalcore and alternative metal with ambient and progressive elements.
Despite the Guardian editor’s harsh assessment, Sleep Token’s genre-mixing approach has resonated with audiences worldwide. This helped them achieve the rare feat of reaching number one in the U.S. charts as mentioned in Beaumont-Thomas’s critique. Their success demonstrates the ongoing debate within music criticism about experimental approaches to traditional metal genres.
