PRESIDENT’s ‘Blood Of Your Empire’ Is One Seriously Impressive Debut

Few new heavy bands have arrived with quite as much attention surrounding them as PRESIDENT. The masked collective have gone from appearing near the bottom of a Download Festival poster to selling out sizeable headline shows remarkably quickly, all while attracting plenty of discussion about who they are, how they got here and the increasingly visible masked band phenomenon within alternative music.

With all that noise surrounding them, Blood Of Your Empire needed to prove there was a genuinely good album underneath it. Thankfully, there is.

PRESIDENT’s debut is infectious. It is difficult not to find something to like across these ten tracks, largely because the band refuse to stay in one place for very long. Heavy music forms the foundation, but electronic music, alternative pop, R&B and touches of EDM constantly work their way into the record. Rather than feeling like different genres awkwardly stitched together, for the most part it gives PRESIDENT an identity that feels much broader than the comparisons that have followed them since their arrival.

‘Angel Wings’ is a particularly strong introduction to that idea. PRESIDENT themselves have described it as the song they would point towards if somebody asked what the band sounds like, and it makes sense. Huge vocals sit against electronics before the heavier elements arrive, establishing the push and pull that runs throughout the album.

Those vocals are one of Blood Of Your Empire’s biggest strengths. There is a genuinely mesmerising quality to them, particularly when PRESIDENT pull things back and allow the melodies to take control. It means that even when the record gets heavier, it rarely becomes exhausting. There is always another hook, electronic section or melodic shift waiting around the corner.

‘dark heaven’ and ‘Pink Noise’ are two of the clearest examples of just how comfortable PRESIDENT are moving between those worlds. The latter especially jumps between electronics and metalcore without losing its momentum. This is a record you can move to as much as you can bang your head to, which isn’t something every modern heavy album manages convincingly.

There is substance beneath that immediacy too. Much of Blood Of Your Empire deals with PRESIDENT’s relationship with faith and the process of questioning beliefs that had previously formed the foundations of his life. That gives songs including ‘Mercy’ and ‘dark heaven’ considerably more weight without turning the album into something inaccessible. The themes are personal, but the music remains immediate.

‘Dionysus’ is another standout and demonstrates that PRESIDENT do not need to constantly rely on the electronic side of their sound to hold your attention. Its piano led moments give the vocals room to breathe before the heavier elements return, and it ends up being one of the album’s most affecting moments.

Not every experiment works quite as convincingly. The closing stretch becomes noticeably more unpredictable, particularly with the rap influenced ‘Hate Figure’, featuring Ando San, and the strange piano led turns of ‘White Devil’. There are moments where the desire to demonstrate just how many directions PRESIDENT can travel in makes the album feel slightly less cohesive than its strongest passages.

But for a debut album, ambition is hardly the worst problem to have. There is also an obvious comparison hanging over PRESIDENT that is difficult to completely ignore. Masked bands have become increasingly prominent within modern heavy music, with Sleep Token demonstrating just how enormous a project built around anonymity, atmosphere and genre blending can become. PRESIDENT inevitably occupy some of that same space, but Blood Of Your Empire does enough to suggest they are beginning to establish something of their own rather than simply following a blueprint.

More importantly, once you strip away the masks, mystery and conversation surrounding the band, the songs stand up. Blood Of Your Empire is a remarkably confident debut. It is catchy without sacrificing its heavier moments, experimental without becoming completely lost in its own ideas and carried by vocals that give PRESIDENT a genuine identity. There is still room for the band to refine exactly what PRESIDENT is, but considering how quickly they have reached this point, that almost makes the potential more exciting.

The hype got people looking. Blood Of Your Empire gives them a reason to stick around.