#TMBTE my one true love

[melit0n]

Part three to the Sleep Token FX post. Some of these I've picked up on my own, and others have been pointed out to me by @reveries-of-my-mind and @moonchild-in-blue through their reblogs of my original post about Vore. A lot of these FX bits are more obvious, so I decided to just put TMBTE in one post.

Part three includes: Take Me Back To Eden

Part One -> One, Two, Jaws and The Way That You Were

Part Two -> Sundowning and This Place Will Become Your Tomb

+ If I've missed something, feel to add your own thoughts!

Note- some of these are FX, others are sound mixing and music bits I wanted to mention. Any song you don't see mentioned are songs that I couldn't find anything to pull out of them. Plus, reminder; these are my interpretations, I'm sorry if you can't hear what I hear, or you think something different.

Chokehold

- Lots and lots of digital, glitchy FX which sets the mood for the album. This is also repeated throughout all the songs in the album, which works with their algorithm-esc, robotic theme (both lyrically and musically) in their songs for this one.

The Summoning

- Unfortunately, everyone's favourite jazz-metal amalgamation doesn't have any other SFX notes other than carrying on Chokehold's glitchy FX motifs.

Aqua Regia

- Jazz café ambience shown throughout the song, also, every single instrument other than the main paino is echoed and or muffled.

+ Fun fact! Aqua Regia is Latin for Royal Water. It's a concentrated solution of Hydrochloric and nitric acids, and is one of the only acids that can dissolve Gold; it's used in the jewelry trade to test the purity of Gold. Not a clue what Vessel is trying to get across with that, but his obsession with chemistry and biology motifs strike again.

Granite

- The screetch of the guitar chord at 2:32, right before the breakdown, sounds almost like a car hitting the breaks and skidding. Works well with Granite's theme of car crashes. You can almost imagine someone having an argument in the car, and the screetch is a result of things going a bit too far.

Vore

- Like I said in my original post, in the beginning (first fifteen seconds), along with the scratchy guitar chord, there are chewing and swallowing sounds. The song is quite literally from the point of view of being stuck in the throat of a God.

- At 3:23 to 3:30, there are bird noises similar to the ones at the start of TMBTE! They're incredibly subtle, but they're there. If you can't pinpoint it, there's a squeaking noise at 3:27, which is just a bird tweeting!

Rain

- From 3:55 to the end of the song, there's rain, which is obviously very fitting. Not specifically rain tapping on a rooftop, but more so rain pouring down a gutter, at least to me.

Take Me Back To Eden

- From 0:00 to 0:40, there's echoed animal noises, like if you were to stand in the middle of a rainforest. The song starts of in absolute silence, only broken by nature; not a human made noise to be heard. It's quite literally Eden. These sounds are there throughout the song, they just get much harder to hear the longer Vessel sings and the more instruments they later on top of eachother.

- At 1:42, there's either a Lion's or a Tiger's roar.

- From 3:10-3:16, there's the sound of thunder.

- A lot of the jingles you hear in The Summoning are repeated here! E.g; 3:40 and, more clearly, at 4:50 and 7:50.

- The lyrics "we were tangled up like branches in a flood; it was no accident" are direct refrences to the lyrics in Chokehold.

Euclid

- The song is 5 minutes and 13 seconds long, but Vessel only starts singing at the 13 second mark. The first lyric? "Just run it back, give me five whole minutes". We, as the listener give him five whole minutes to say what he's gotta say. Further, the song ends on the exact same piano chord that it begins with; the song, in of itself, is a loop. Anytime you play Euclid on loop, you are running it back and giving him five whole minutes. One of the reasons Euclid is my favourite (next to Aqua Regia) for this album.

- The lyrics "the night belongs to you" and "this bough is broken through" are lyrical refrences to The Nigh Does not Belong to God from Sundowning and When The Bough Breaks from One. The oldest album, and ST's first produced album.

- From 4:02 to the end of the song, a verse from The Night Does Not Belong To God is played. It completes the produced album trilogy, and, with the five stages of grief, allows for acceptance and healing. Euclid not only loops itself, but loops the three albums together. Sundowning, TPWBYT and TMBTE are an endless loop that can and will be played as many times as needed for Vessel, for you, as the listener, to heal. To accept change. To realise there's more than denial, anger bargaining and depression. And I think that, in of itself, is beautiful.

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Album Notes: Sleep Token really put their whole soul into this album huh. By far, it's the one that uses SFX the most, and rounds out Sleep Token's own genre as a whole. We see snippets of older songs used throughout the album, both lyrical refrences and actual chunks of old songs taken out and placed within other ones. 10/10, would cry to again.

Thank you for reading through all my thoughts and feelings, whoever you are. Remember, the night belongs to you; worship <3.

[deleteduser3837492]

the only comfort I have is that my husband can sing like vessel and he sings to me and me alone so. sleep token is a healing agent in many ways for me lmao.

what��s funny is I’m the one who showed my husband this band, not the other way around, years ago when sundowning came out. my husband is a musical genius if you ask me, a very talented guitarist who studied music theory for two years in college before dropping out. he’s usually the one showing me music. before I knew about the sleep token lore, it’s funny because I’ve always viewed my husband as some sort of god or ethereal being. he’s special.

I didn’t listen to this place will become your tomb when it came out as I was into other music at the time. I didn’t get back into sleep token until we went to a show on their NA tour this year and even then I didn’t know TMBTE very well. I was embarrassed because my husband knew words to every song and I didn’t and I felt very out of place and very much like a burden at the show. I also had no idea about any of the bands lore or names at all until I was literally waiting for them to come on stage. I cried a lot on the car ride home because I felt so bad, but my husband had a good time so that made me happy. It was my first time back at a concert in over 4 years so I was overwhelmed anyway. I still had a great time and really loved the show.

Fast forward and now I know TMBTE like the back of my hand along with the rest of the discography I hadn’t taken the time to listen to yet. Eden has been healing for me. And when I’m sad I ask my husband to sing to me until I fall asleep. These days I usually wake up crying and go to sleep crying. the lyrics are a small comfort for me, and even more so that the voices blend seamlessly with the love of my life. So even when I’m alone (as I am most days due to work) I can listen to sleep token and be comforted. It’s not enough, and I am still deep in the throes of depression and grief/mourning, but I don’t want to mince words when I say this album is one of my life lines right now. Sometimes I even harmonize with my husband and it feels like everything is right in the universe, if only for those few moments of song.

Thankful to vessel and all those that helped sleep token produce TMBTE. It’s true I was an og fan and knew nothing but love for the sound before, but I feel very emotionally connected to the lyrics and messages in these songs. A lot of them have helped me heal. And I’m forever grateful to ST for this.

[moonchild-in-blue]

now I can't stop thinking about "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" combined with "The Apparition" within the context of that point in TMBTE in conjunction with the reading of the "apparition" being someone from Vessel's past that he does or does not remember but still has these deep-rooted loving feelings for. Pain and anguish and also thank you for bringing the entire notion of all of these to my attention, I'm loving it!

OKAY BUT!!!

I will be listening to Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again with THIS in mind, thank you 😭💙

Honestly, this was one of those things we're I noticed A Connection™, and my brain would not let me rest. Do you want more pain and anguish?

"Masquerade" (final reprise) - the moment where The Phantom/Sleep show the true depths of their vulnerability and humanity. And how much they wished to stand as equals to the rest of world.

[fivewholeminutes]

i am in fact the same TMBTE anon both times (sorry!! 😭). again, such a cool analysis!!! i'm new to ST and IMMEDIATELY got invested. i haven't seen an artist do something like this before, so it's really amazing trying to connect the dots based on what everyone thinks. and yes, i do think it's the same girl in the music videos, which is interesting because of the whole "he planned everything from the start" theory. then i wonder about what the music videos mean (though i do agree that the vision shifted a little after TLYW)! i loooveee the idea that Sleep is coming from within Vessel, cause he's literally a host as in an empty holding vessel. and the white mask thing omg......so crazy cool......cause then it goes into after being "taken hostage", they change their masks as like some sort of acceptance (which kind of mirrors Vessel's black body paint transformation cause the current masks are black too?). idk, i do think that sometimes we/the fans stretch things, but that's also the fun of it. always love hearing the Think™

and in true sleep token fashion, i think i'll remain anon - 🪼

Hello again, Anon!! Sorry this one took so much time! I am stuck in a car now, so I can finally finish it. The editing on mobile is an absolute fucking nightmare though

Don't be sorry for being the same Anon! I was just listing all possibilities and now, knowing it was you all the time, I hereby pronounce you My Beloved Anon. No take backsies. (Kidding, if you're not comfortable with this title, let me know!)

Alright! Let's make a list:

Immediately getting invested in ST? HIGH FIVE, this is what happens to approx. 98% of us (at least here on tumblr). And everybody agrees that there is Something about them. And nobody knows what that is, only that it works. So we're actually in a cult, sorry everyone!

Ok, no, it's not entirely true that we don't know, people have hinted that their uniqueness might be in a. extreme fucking talent, obviously and b. letting the audience fill in the gaps that lack of the band members' identities provides with whatever suits everyone's needs best.

The videos switch their vibe dramatically, don't they? The early ones feel more... I don't know, based in reality (maybe except for the Fields of Elation), while TPWBYT ones feel more like they are set in those dreamlands Vessel mentions in The Apparition. Okay, TLYW is more dreamland-ish, Alkaline looks like it's set on Earth/waking world, but Vessel gets too much power from Sleep and needs to be stopped by the ancient-gods-slash-eldrich-horror-hunting version of Ghostbusters. So the older videos seem more human to me, you know what I mean? Maybe they wanted to show that with time, Vessel looses more and more of his humanity. But we can't rule out the "they just had more money for the videos, so they went off" possibility. Also, I think they don't make much videos to not let the fans think there is some "canon" here?? Or they just don't like making them lol

EXCELLENT IDEA with that whole hostage mask situation - I've just had a loose thought they looked like sacks, but i haven't connected it to the lore, thank you, Anon!!!!! Now, as usual, it made me Think™. Cause we have interpretations floating around (which i love, btw) with the other Vessels being "drafted" into the band to relieve the first Vessel from the toll Sleep's power has on him, cause after all, his human body cannot manage it by itself when Sleep grows in power from all the worship. BUT what if they didn't join voluntarily? They weren't persuaded to join the cult, but they were kidnapped instead. Carefully chosen, to fulfill the plan of greatness. Hence the hostage-looking-masks. And then stockholm syndrome kicked in (i know, i know, the term is not exactly correct anymore, but for the lack of a better one 🤷‍♀️) and they were like "ye, you know what. That's actually better than a 9-5 job" and the masks changed. They have embraced the dark side. (I am cataloguing this under "unhinged theories", btw. But yeah, it's just a thought, possibility, me fucking around etc. That's a long-ish car trip, I gotta do something with myself, you know.)

Oh and we absolutely DO stretch things (see point 4, for example)! See things that aren't there. Make 2648585 interpretations. It's fun (when we remember not to involve the real people behind the masks in the mix)!

Anon, i respect you deciding to stay on Anon so much. You're making the band proud, probably!

[melit0n]

I read ur tags about the new ST masks and honestly, I agree, it's very different (very Slipknot and gore-ish) and right now, the discography and overall vibe doesn't match(like a handful of songs have a true metal quality to it) and unless they're gonna start releasing new stuff the vibes kind of...clash? And so far Vessel is the same, so I'm wondering if the others just wanted to stand out more and were given creative freedom or if everything is going to shift at some point :/ I also think its a bit been there done that (but the simpler black and gold mask I like) the others remind me of the Joker or a Shrunken Head

Thank you for the ask anon! To be honest, I saw 'I read it tags about the new ST mask...' and I panicked thinking I was about to get left-right-goodnighted in an ask, but I'm glad it wasn't so, lol.

Further, I'm glad someone agrees with me. I said what I said in my tags on twt and within the hour I had 20+ people in my replies quote tweeting me saying how I 'wasn't a proper fan for not liking the change', how I 'should leave and stop listening if I was going to be negative', and (my personal favourite because it was so absurd) 'you're so one of the people that found them through TikTok. Good to have a cleanse of the fandom if you were only here because you have a mask kink'.

Even had someone tell me to off myself! Which was, y'know, lovely. I don't have any screenshots because I was just sat there trying to figure out how to reply to them, then saw the one that told me to off myself and just had a little overwhelmed cry and deleted the tweet, in which I then got tagged in a now deleted tweet calling me a pussy. You are so loved my ass.

I deleted it because it made me feel really shit about myself (for obvious reasons), but it made me feel more shit when I woke up the next day seeing people say the same things I did (like hoping it was only a Wembly thing, but considering the amount of detail and effort that's been put into those outfits and masks, I think not), and getting nothing but acceptance and neutrality in the replies. I'm not particularly popular on twt since people are fond of copy and pasting my post about Euclid, not giving credits, blocking me when I ask them to, and when their mutuals see that I'm blocked by them they just have at me for no reason, but I think it says a lot about a fandom if they can go from getting everyone to hold up a three for iii at the concerts out of pure adoration to telling someone to off themselves because they don't like the new designs. (sorry for the rant about twt anon)

I'll repeat what I said in my tags; they feel very out of place to me. Again, maybe it's just the fact I'm used to the balaclavas since I've been around here for a while, so all I've really known is Vessel's custom mask and the collective of balaclavas, but they just don't match. They stick out more than Vessel does, both design and colour pallet wise. Vessel is in full black with white accents and a white, red and gold mask, the Esperas are in full black with white accents and a red mask. And then the guys are there, y'know? Don't get me wrong, the amount of detail and effort that's been put into the designs are amazing, and they definitely have to have given each member creative freedom because each mask and design matches the lad's vibe immaculately (especially iii's), but it doesn't match Sleep Token's vibe as a collective. I like IV's design best because his matches his stage presence and ST's vibe (as you said, the simpler gold and black mask), as well as ii's (minus the hair).

I think maybe the hair on ii's and iii's masks in general are throwing me off lol.

Furthermore, Sleep Token's only full on trad metal songs are Gods from Sundowning and Vore from TMBTE, so I got really surprised when I was basically looking at Slipknot masks curated for Sleep Token. ST are known to genre bend constantly, so maybe we will get new stuff. But, considering they've had the same vibe in their music since 2016, I'd be a bit surprised if their new single/new album was just all trad metal, or at least has a lot of aspects of it, but who knows! Maybe change for them is inevitable.

I think it's well known on this blog that the passing of time and change in literally anything is my mortal enemy so seeing this kind of randomly happen gave me whiplash. I don't think I can love the new designs as much as I loved the old balaclavas, but that doesn't mean I don't like Sleep Token anymore, y'know? All I can really do is apologise for having a non super positive opinion and hope people don't hound me on here for it (which, so far, they haven't, and I appreciate you very much for being really chill about this anon). Give me a week and I'll probably be on the boat of liking them and making analysis posts on all the little details, lol

[politemagic]

reading this actually vibrating, bouncing off the walls, gnawing at the bars of my enclosure because !!!!!!!! yes!!!! to so many things!!!!!

FIRST!!! Vessel escaping in the car but being captured and not ever making it out? If we just wanna grab one line from granite I'll just...

I was more than just a body in your passenger seat And you were more than just somebody I was destined to meet

Gonna go wild and connect this to what you said (get ready to stretch with me) that Paladin Strait will probably end with Clancy's death. I think to bring the liberation of Dema. Vessel may have arrived first, but Clancy is the one who will lead them to freedom. But, when Clancy is gone, someone will have to be left behind, he continues to make music, but no longer to serve any higher purpose, he makes it for himself. (thus breaking the cycle re: euclid)

I was more than just a body in your passenger seat - even though Vessel never made it to the Banditos, even though he was recaptured, he was an important piece in this movement.

And you were more than just somebody I was destined to meet - for a long time Vessel believed he would fully ascend, and at first he thought Clancy was just the person leading him out of Dema to where he could seek his own freedom, but he realized that Clancy was actually the one who would gain it for him.

Now for some less cohesive rambling responses to other things you said:

Clancy can't sleep. y'know "I'll stay awake 'cause the dark's not taking prisoners tonight" he's gotta stay free

ii is absolutely vessel's torchbearer. ii and josh are the same as far as i am concerned.

Okay so WHAT IF in this world, in Vialism the world is manipulated by the being Sleep (who has no physical form). The Bishops are all, essentially, little Sleep clones. They are completely made of His power. Then they can project that power through the vessels through psychokinesis (but they're kind of under psychokinesis themselves, ya feel me?) The nine bishops represent nine different pieces of Sleep. Keon is Sleep's compassion, because I do believe in there somewhere is love. Keon is the one that feels a true connection to Clancy/Vessel and helps them, even though it got him killed (it was indeed a fatal flaw of Sleep's).

okay so I know TMBTE is Vessel's fight back against the oppressing force album but. when you said the gold in Chokehold/Aqua Regia could be a representation of the wish that the Banditos existed... if we were to think of Aqua Regia as a pre-divergence Vessel then... Aqua Regia is literally a solution that can dissolve gold. dissolve the myths of the Banditos, anyone??? (my ability to make absolutely nothing into something will never cease to amaze me)

have we ever seen vessel and tyler joseph in the same room together??????

THE PARALLELS PRACTICALLY WRITE THEMSELVES

if you'll allow me some space to share my ✨thøught✨ for the day:

obviously we see the parallels between tyler & vessel. i think they're opposite sides of the same coin. vessel gave in willingly to his adversary (sleep) and tyler was captured by his (blurryface). while vessel remains under sleep's power, tyler is constantly trying to run away. they both made music used to garner support for their adversary, yet vessel did it willingly and tyler did not. as you said, vessel yearns to sleep because that's when he's at peace, but tyler hates to sleep because that's when the bad things happen. and there's so many more but let me get to my thøught:

(come to looney town with me and imagine that sleep and blurryface are the same. sleep is the deity connected to vialism.)

clancy and vessel are two sides of the same coin. they followed the same path into dema, yet vessel gave up. never tried to escape. he allowed himself to be overtaken by the bishops. he committed to the religion, dreaming of his neon gravestone. he spreads the message they give him (he wears black body paint. come on. smearing). clancy doesn't let himself follow that same path, so he runs. vessel only fights back when he hears of clancy's triumph.

(i'm sorry i hope you enjoy my word vomit. happy timezones lovely🫶🏼)

Em darling, respectfully, I'm kissing you on the mouth and taking a nap on the deep-ass wrinkles of your galaxy brian 🧠🌌

@fivewholeminutes Alex once you hear the album please come here, because we've had some Conversations™ about the ST x TØP parallels before and I know you'll love this.

(omg this is so long I'm so sorry)

Okay but this makes so much sense? Because in Vialism, in order to reach the status of glory and ascend to so-called Paradise, you must die and become a vessel (!!!!) to the bishops, who control your body through those antlers (!!!!!!!!!!!). VESSEL IS LITERALLY A VESSEL TO THE BISHOPS. HE IS DEAD AND IN "PARADISE".

The night comes down like heaven

Of course it does! That's what Sleep aka The Bishops want you to believe you silly boy 😭 Of course the night does not belong to God, it belongs to them. That's why Clancy can't fall asleep/dream - he must stay awake so the dark doesn't take over him (ODE TO SLEEP AAAAA).

What if Vessel was also trying to escape in that car with Clancy, before he surrendered aka Ascended?? What if Clancy made it out to Voldsøy alone, but Vessel was seized by Nico and therefore never met the Banditos? That's why he never references yellow. It's always red and blue.

Maybe the gold in Chokehold and Aqua Regia is him still holding on hope that the Banditos exist, that the myths are true. But he never made it out of the car with Clancy, so of course he wouldn't have known.

But in that case, just like Clancy is special and isn't affected by the powers, maybe Vessel also has a resistance? He surrenders to Vialism, to Sleep/Blurryface, gives up his name and identity in order to reach glory and fame and spread His word (omg how is this fitting so perfectly lmao), but a part of him is still aware of it all. He isn't really dead - he is asleep.

OH OKAY WAIT. SO! We know Keon is the most compassionate Bishop right? What if Sleep isn't specifically Nico/Blurryface, but a combination of the Nine? Or possibly the force behind them?

What if Keon was the one who had Vessel under control (possibly representing the romantic/affectionate nature of Vessel and Sleep's relationship), and since Clancy stabbed him, he severed that tie and allowed Vessel to regain some control of himself? Which leads us to Take Me Back To Eden aka Vessel fighting back. Maybe Euclid is what happens after Clancy reaches Nico's tower and have that final confrontation?

I don't think we know how Clancy initially reached Dema, but I'm assuming it has to do with his past - Dema offered an alternative/solution to all the pain he felt *if* he followed their twisted propaganda.

It took a while for Clancy to see what was wrong and gather up the courage to leave, so I'll assume it's the same for Vessel. They tried to escape but Clancy met the Banditos and the rebellion, which offered him a real alternative - hope. Vessel never did so of course he succumbed to Sleep/ the Bishop's brainwashing and accepted the deal - just like you said, he did it all willingly, while Clancy/Tyler didn't.

Also - Clancy was never alone since he had the support of the Banditos, of the Torchbearer, and of Ned. Vessel had to fight all by himself 🥲. Boy's got no friends 😔 (they are as brainwashed as he is).

AND THAT'S WHY!!! That's why TMBTE ends with Euclid, a song about hope and breaking the cycle - renewal - while still mourning for the life he lead up until now in Dema/ under Sleep's influence, while Paladin Strait is all about sacrifice, about the last effort to finally reach some peace.

I have a feeling the Paladin Strait mv will end with him dying - maybe his death will bring forth the liberation of the citizens of Dema and by consequence, of Vessel.

Also! Things I find interesting but can't really fit here but please latch on them (mostly typing this so I don't forget):

Trench has a lot of snow and trees, which could fit into the "diamonds in the trees / ancient canopies" imagery. Vessel spent more time there under Sleep/Blurryface's influence

The beach!! The water!! Both of them make a lot of references to water and That Beach aka sacred shores aka where Clancy and Torchbearer emerge from aka the only way out of Trench

CHLORINE IS A NEUTRAL CHEMICAL. NOT ACID NOR ALKALINE. The one used in pools (aka Ned's pool in Chlorine) is slightly alkaline according to Google. Coincidence???? I think not.

Also in Chlorine - Tyler makes a reference to the taste of lead. Hmmmmmm there's a connection there with Granite kinda? I'm reaching BUT!!

"And I'm done dancing to alarm bells" maybe it's a reference to him being done with SAI's propaganda/distraction?

The burning car / car crash references from both.

"I'm a waking hell and the gods grow tired" -> Vessel never fully ascended as the Bishops intended which causes a lot of friction between them

Josh and ii are the same person too. ii is Vessel's Torchbearer 🥹

Look. It's late (as I type this) and you come here with that amazing brain of yours connecting dots, and I can't help but latch on to them. I feel insane just typing this all out but!!! It makes SO MUCH SENSE OMG.

I wonder how Ned and Thrash fit into the narrative 🤔