Review Summary: A letdown of a debut from a band that’s more concerned with trend-chasing rather than establishing their own identity.
PRESIDENT, the mysterious masked band from the U.K. (who many believe is fronted by Fightstar’s Charlie Simpson), seemingly appeared out of nowhere earlier this year. Industry plant accusations aside, they went from not existing to having hundreds of thousands of monthly listeners on streaming services seemingly overnight. Now that their debut EP has been released, not only do we not (officially) know who the band members
are, but we also don’t really know what kind of band they’re trying to be. Unfortunately,
King of Terrors sees PRESIDENT relentlessly chasing recent trends as if they were boxes to mark off on a checklist, and in doing so, have released a disappointing and incohesive first effort.
For starters, the EP can best be described as an amalgamation of pop, electronic, and alternative rock, with dashes of metalcore sprinkled in so they can appeal to as broad a fanbase as possible. The songs themselves are by no means offensively bad; you can easily make the argument that the four mysterious members of PRESIDENT are talented musicians. Their singer (who is
totally not Charlie Simpson, come on guys) does a serviceable job providing lead vocals, but it’d be a much more notable highlight if his voice wasn’t constantly drowned out under layers of filters and autotune. As for the instrumentals, they’re decent enough, but rarely do anything to go beyond that. The electronics and occasional trap beats feel uninspired, and the chuggy, often out-of-place breakdowns are solid, even if they’re unoriginal.
King of Terrors’ greatest sin is just how hollow and soulless it all feels. There’s nothing on this EP that other bands in the genre haven’t already done. There’s also no unexpected “wow” moments, no enjoyable hooks, no memorable lyrics, or anything else that might compel the listener to return to
King of Terrors. Despite numerous listens, I still struggle to remember what specific songs even sound like, and this is largely due to each of the EP’s six tracks being a similar and predictable blend of stale electronics, boring choruses, and token breakdowns. There’s nothing wrong with making music that isn’t entirely original. But in order for that music to stand out in a meaningful way, there needs to be heart, passion, energy, or really
anything that makes the music sound inspired to the listener. Sadly,
King of Terrors (and, for now, the band as a whole) lacks any of that.
2 out of 5
