UK-based collective PRESIDENT continue to exist at the intersection of heavy music, electronic experimentation, and cinematic atmosphere. They will release BLOOD OF YOUR EMPIRE, their debut full length, on September 4 via Atlantic Records. Pre-order it here.
Ahead of the release, the band shared the visualizer for “dark heaven.”
“‘dark heaven’ is a reflection on the contradictions of faith, and how something intended to unite humanity has so often been used to justify division, violence, and power. It’s about the way greed can wear the mask of righteousness,’ President say. “It isn’t an attack on belief itself; it’s about searching for something real beneath the noise, and asking what remains when certainty begins to crumble.”
One could certainly regard “dark heaven” as a personal state of the union address from President. The track’s seasick distortion drains into a buoyant 808-laden beat during the verses. The song goes for broke with a command on the pre-chorus: “Gather ‘round children, sing Hallelujah.” A glitchy and detuned riff takes over, giving way to a powerful confession: “I used to stare at the cross and cry out for God, but I’m not the person I was.“
The accompanying visual records the actual first reactions of various fans hearing “dark heaven” for the first time in a church. Their feelings spill across their faces, but it’s another magnetic anthem from alternative metal’s incumbent supreme leader.
“Blood Of Your Empire was born out of my own struggle with existential crisis and trying to make sense of belief, mortality, and humanity’s relationship with faith,” President says. “Religion has inspired incredible compassion, purpose, and beauty in the world — but it has also been responsible for unimaginable suffering and bloodshed throughout history. This album lives in the tension between those two truths. Writing it became a way for me to confront the fear, confusion, and questions I’ve carried for years, and turn them into something I’m truly proud of.”
The album cover is a Eugène Delacroix painting, The Battle of Poitiers, which, consequently, hangs in the Louvre.
