Treason Kings’ songs are often emotionally ambiguous. They inspire sentiments of uplifting contemplation, but weight it down enough to satisfy those who love to have their inner ear in a flooded turmoil. Pushing attention on social alienation, their fuzzy sound is filled with the desire for freedom. Treason Kings use repetition as a working tool, which makes it easy to latch onto their songs.
The main driving force of this EP is going in circles with riffs and breaches that are very characteristic of grunge. Sometimes the binding of the songs is taut, but it is exciting when Treason Kings are more daring as they experiment with post-rock percussion and crack the walls of their sound. Their subtle use of backing vocals gives their sound depth, as they almost chant lowly between your ears.
Vale is overall a very well balanced EP that could be played at any time of the day. A personal favourite from this album is ‘Circles’ and ‘Castle’.
Treason Kings are well worth checking out and have a promising future. Our suggestion is to keep an eye on these guys as they certainly look like they are going places.
3/5
Blathin Eckhardt
© Overdrive, 2016
