Is this the future we’re going to live in? PRESIDENT shows us anonymous bands are the next ripple effect in rock music; while delivering an album that puts them in consideration.
Everyone likes to unmask the masked. Whether it is Slipknot when they started, to Ghost & Sleep Token a few decades later-you want to know who is behind the music. Whether the artist does or not-is not something we’ve started caring about. The rule is, if someone makes enough of an impact with their music, you want to know the face and personality behind it. Guesswork begins once more, with PRESIDENT.
If you’re a regular human, you would have never known about them till now. Chances are while reading this you still don’t. Download Festival 2025 helped them generate big waves when they were announced to be headlining with NO SONGS OUT. That’s what the crowd needs.
Cut to days and months later, you’re seeing metal fans on Reddit and in forums go crazy about unmasking the band and the details behind them. As of now, Charlie Simpson seems to be the biggest speculation being the “industry plant” and singer behind the mask.
How do they sound?
Now, none of this matters if their music was straight up microwaved horseshit. But it’s not. When they confidently released In the Name of the Father, you could see the theme, energy and digital dystopia unravel around their music. Their marketing team might be genius, but if they have nothing to back it up with, you’ve shot yourself in the foot.
With warped vocals and generous moments of synth ambiences cropping up before every guttural, soul splitting scream, there is a lot to engage with while listening to PRESIDENT. Fearless will make you realise that they’re okay playing with this trope of anonymity-and how invested people get about it. The music might have the trip-hop bounce that Sleep Token popularised in metal in their music. Are there aspects of Babymetal when they scream Fearless as well? I sure seem to think so-while the music stays sticky, catchy and extremely energetic.
Leaning electronica heavy
RAGE opens with the electronic gauntlet, with synth percussive elements having the R&B touch to it. You tend to wait for the incredible breakdown that changes the flavour of the song-but all of it is worth experiencing for what they’re trying to present. Listen, not as a judgemental genre purist-but how different sections amalgamate. It might be a bit much in places, like in this song, RAGE. However, there’s no denying it’s done with top-tier production, making you forget about song structure and the likes.
Destroy Me continues from the percussive echoes that RAGE leaves behind. However, this goes all metalcore from the beginning itself. As an EP, the band seems to show that they lean a lot towards trip-hop and hip-hop rhythm sections. It allows for the contrast of heaviness to land with that much more gravity. Dionysus comes in next, another track we haven’t had the fortune to listen to. PRESIDENT have had quite the ride on the coattails of a formula that Sleep Token knows the world loves to dislike.
The talent and performance is undeniable, they have powerful, soaking riffs with transitions and silent sections, where everyone will sing along to their music. When it’s building to something heavy, they do it not-so-subtly, almost so that everyone pre-empts the crushing power of their composition. Conclave gently brings their composition elements, to something of a fitting closing for this EP. PRESIDENT have been very clear with their vision for sure, making a play on absolutist power, blinding megalomania and satire elements giving their exterior the shape and form they desire.
As a verdict
What does the music do but? It has the swing to be good enough to justify the shenanigans. They can pull the trigger, and actually give a shotgun barrel to the head. They design their elements to be different enough from Sleep Token, while knowing there is a winning format of lovers/haters in this new hybrid of metal we have started listening to.
PRESIDENT definitely have our attention now, so they better stay above the average line before they’re classified a gimmick act. The mask is easier to rip off now more than ever, so let the unbridled talent be the energy that puts them across the playlist maps of the world. Charlie, if that’s you behind the mask, you better make sure the album ups it a notch from here. Crowds are unforgiving, and content has to be pristine enough to be appreciated. For now, we thank you for what you have signed off on. Like many presidents before, you have delivered a promise in the beginning; let’s just ensure you don’t get the space to go rogue:
Self professed metalhead, moderately well read. If the music has soul, it's whole to me. The fact that my bio could have ended on a rhyme and doesn't should tell you a lot about my personality.
