Decoding Aqua Regia

Breaking down a Sleep Token song is an exercise in patience and diligence. For most songs, the listener is simply working with the lyrics contained within the actual song. With Sleep Token, one is tasked with the lyrics, the lore, the complexities of fitting within a three album cycle and a strange knowledge of chemicals and hardware.

Tony, my One Big Blank pal, and I started this journey by ranking every song in the Sleep Token catalog and even challenging some fans to do the same – you can see the brackets here. From there we started breaking down the lyrics of our top songs. Tony tackled our favorite Sleep Token song Atlantic here. I’m breaking down Aqua Regia, my most played song in 2024 according to my Apple Music replay.

Aqua Regia is what I love about Sleep Token. It’s unpredictable and defies categorization. It’s a little rock, a little R&B, and a lovely bit of jazz. So, sonically, it’s a beautiful song. Lyrically? Now that’s another story. It could be viewed as a sort of stream of consciousness song by Vessel stringing together all the animal, chemical and hardware elements that exist throughout the entire catalog. That would be an easy approach since there are references to Sugar, Dark Signs, The Summoning, Take Me Back to Eden and Jaws.

I believe, however, that the song makes more sense if you view it structurally, rather than focusing solely on the lyrics. To begin, the term Aqua Regia, or Royal Water, refers to a mixture of acids that refines gold, cleans glass, etches, but can also be a destructive element. This is a duality of nature that I initially was caught up on. The entire song deals with opposites so it makes sense. However, digging a little deeper, there is actually a spiritual meaning behind Aqua Regia. It refers to the transformative power of knowledge and the dissolution of the ego in the pursuit of enlightenment; it’s a spiritual refinement and purification. Being that this three album trilogy contains elements of growth and a journey, this spiritual nature of Aqua Regia is how I will view it.

Now, with that in mind. Let’s look at the structure and how it shows us that Vessel is stuck. The first four lines refer to his animal nature:

“Well, my love is an animal call
Cutting through the darkness, bouncing off the walls
Between teeth on a broken jaw
Following a blood trail frothing at the maw”

This is the unbridled nature of following your animalistic passions. This is how Vessel was operating. It has a throwback lyric to the song Jaws, which describes a dangerous relationship. If the Jaw is broken, that would mean that Vessel is moving on from this potential threat, and the next lines confirm it. The “blood trail” is a reference to The Summoning and again places these lines in the past.

Structurally, we now move to the present day.

“These days I’m a circuit board
Integrated hardware you cannot afford
The perfect start to a perfect war
Putting down the roses picking up the sword”

“These days” places us in the present day. He is now cold, calculated. Referring to himself as hardware. He is putting love aside and picking up the sword. Vessel has become hardened to his circumstances. He, too, seems to have moved on intellectually. He sees himself as hardware that “you” cannot afford. He puts down the roses, or love, and picks up the sword. He is fighting off his own nature.

The next two lines of the refrain follow:

“Aqua Regia
Aqua Regia”

It’s as if Vessel is calling for that spiritual enlightenment because of what he has become. While the animal nature may not be ideal, his new cold nature is neutering him from finding love.

The next verse continues the same pattern, how it was and how it is now. It begins with:

“Well, my past is a holy book
A call from Olympus, ringing off the hook
Between the pain and they way you look
I’m stuck in a time where the mountains shook”

Vessel’s past was distinguished by his relationship with Sleep. It was written like gospel. He accepted the call to be the vessel of Sleep indicated by the line “a call from Olympus, ringing off the hook.” At this time, he was stuck where the mountains shook. It was as if there was a volcano about to erupt. Again, following his feelings, his animal nature.

But then, we switch gears again to the present:

“And these days I’m a picture frame
Screaming at the sunshine, singing in the rain
Sugar on the blood cells, carbon on the brain
All of Eden’s vices running through my veins”

Vessel refers to himself as a picture frame. He is outside of the action, framing it but not participating. All is backward right now, indicated by the next line where opposites are on display. “Screaming at the sunshine and singing in the rain.” His life is backward. He goes on to explain his current state with sugar on the blood cells and carbon on the brain. Both indicate that he is out of sorts, or subdued. Sugar as in personal pain, lethargy, and carbon which leads to loss of metabolism and leads to a low arousal state. The next line explains that Eden’s vices are still there, running through his veins. They can still be tapped into. If only…..

Next up is the chorus which continues the back and forth between the two states from the verses:

“Aqua Regia”

-enlightenment

“Oxytocin running in the ether”

-natural hormone associated with arousal and relationships

“Silicon ballrooms”

– back to hardware and computer comparisons

“Subatomic interactions if it’s all good”

– those interactions beneath the surface, natural urges

“Gold rush, acid flux”

– dousing his desire, flooding him, potentially something that could cleanse Vessel

“Saturate me, I can’t get enough”

– the desire from unbridled feelings

“Cold love, hot blood”

– contradictions, cold love that aligns with the previously stated mechanical nature of where he is, hot blood where he wants to be

“Running to your heart when you’re thinking of”

– the perfect ending for Vessel

Following this chorus, we are treated with a beautiful instrumental piano interlude. It’s not a rhythm section keyboard; it’s a full blown jazz piano. This is where Sleep Token shines. They are not committed to one genre or style- whatever services the song works.

Next up is the bridge:

“Oh, when I am done dancing to alarm bells
No wonder my ears are still ringing
And I am done fighting off change
No wonder my arms are still swinging”

This refers again to what was. We get a throw back to Dark Signs with alarm bells. His ears are still ringing and his arms are still swinging due to the long period of time doing those exact things, fighting against them. Breaking this mold will not be easy.

Be sure to check out the official video for Aqua Regia by Sleep Token below: