The Follower Of Christ – “Betrayed With A Kiss”
The Follower Of Christ – “Betrayed With A Kiss” – Single Review
Some of you regular readers out there might remember this dude from…oh…that’s wild – a year ago to this very day? It was July 24th of 2025 that I was checking out The Follower Of Christ’s album Holy Mountain along with a few additional tunes. I can’t recall another time in the history of our website that I’ve reviewed somebody’s music on the exact same day in consecutive years – that’s truly freakin’ cool.
As to whether or not enough has changed in that stretch of time, I’m not as sure. There are some things I definitely dig about the new single from The Follower Of Christ, and there are things that I wasn’t as convinced by. I think what had me debating how I felt about this song this time around was whether or not The Follower Of Christ had buried the lead – you know what I mean? I felt like there is a very large chance that the main attraction in this song isn’t the piece you’ll find featured as prominently as you would likely have assumed the hook probably should be on “Betrayed With A Kiss” – so lemme explain.
Alright…so…positives first. What I’d tell you right off the bat is to have a watch of the video that comes along with “Betrayed With A Kiss” because it’ll give you a ton of insight into how the sausage is made. Alone in the studio with a ton of killer gear to work with, The Follower Of Christ has everything he could ever want or need to be a one-man band right there at his disposal. Everything genuinely looks really cool, right down the sticker-covered cases and the artwork you’ll see in the background as well. With the flick of a switch to power the amps, and a cue for the beat to start on his synthesizers, “Betrayed With A Kiss” begins with impressively rhythmic digital percussion, and you can feel the intensity building. No doubt that The Follower Of Christ is off to a good start, but that’s only the first eighteen seconds or so – there’s still plenty of song left to go. Musically, I’m a big fan of what you’ll hear in this new single. When The Follower Of Christ adds the low-down sound of his distorted guitar to the mix, that works well too. As to whether or not it’s a seamless fit with his vocals…we’ll get to that…just hang on a minute. The guitar itself contributes solidly though, even if the way it’s contributing is a fairly normal style of strumming along with a growly sound that we’re pretty used to by now from other things we’ve heard along the way. I mean…I suppose what I’m saying is that this one layer alone wasn’t going to be enough to have this whole song stand out like it should – but that’s where the OTHER layer of guitar comes in to really steal the show. LISTEN to what’s happening around the forty-five second mark! It’s brilliant, full stop. I’ll be real with you and tell ya that the mix itself doesn’t quite reflect how much of a hook this part of the song truly is, but at least we can still hear it in there. If I was The Follower Of Christ, I would have found a way to feature that particular piece of the song even more than what we hear now. What surrounds it is alright – but what you hear in his second guitar layer is where the real magic happens, at least from my perspective. The Follower Of Christ will continue to bring this layer back at different points throughout the song, but rather than having that part prominently lead the way, it’s relegated much more into the background…and I’m not 100% convinced that was the right call. Like, listen to the spot around the 3:35 mark towards the end of the song for example – it breaks through the rest, but in my opinion, this should still be the main feature of the entire song overall. Dude’s guitar work in the background of “Betrayed With A Kiss” is exceptional stuff – all I’m saying is make that more noticeable.
Now…as far as the vocals are concerned, I remember having some mixed results the last time I reviewed The Follower Of Christ as well. I’ve tried to be as objective as I can about what I’m hearing in this latest single, but it’s hard to pin down exactly what I’m feeling towards it all. Like, I think I’d say the vocals are on target enough…I don’t know that I’d be able to go as far as to say the singing is one of the main draws to this song, but I think we have to come to the conclusion that they’re a good enough fit to include’em. What I’d like to hear is more of a shift in the cadence and tone from verse to chorus and such…the fact that The Follower Of Christ is somewhat singing “Betrayed With A Kiss” in one gear affects the dynamics of the entire song and the power we should be noticing as the single moves between its different parts. This is all a roundabout way of saying you want those shifts between verse & chorus to pack more punch to them…or at least, that’s how I felt while listening. To me, it’s those kinds of dynamics that you want right in the front of the mix, rather than having the most significant changes, whether it’s a second layer of guitar crushin’ it, or some rampaging vocals like you’ll hear from him later in the song, end up being more trapped within the background. You really gotta feature your feature stuff…that’s what I’m sayin.’ Having said all that, what The Follower Of Christ is singing in the chorus IS highly memorable. After a single spin through it, I knew the next time I’d hear this song that I’d absolutely remember what the main vocal hooks were doing, and of course that proved to be the case, even a day or so later. Of course there’s value in that, so don’t get it twisted – I might not personally love either of the song’s main vocal parts myself, but the fact that it’s all so memorable is still a huge sign of being on the right track, even if I still felt like there are ways to get more out of the moment itself by shifting tone or cadence a bit more. Other than that, lyrically it’s interesting and engaging enough, even to those outside of the religious realm or sphere of influence. I think The Follower Of Christ is drawing on some of the story of Judas Iscariot if I’m not mistaken, and likely how that relates to the choices we make. “How much silver will it take?” he asks, which is essentially a metaphor that questions how willingly we’ll surrender our souls in exchange for meaningless materialism and such…and if that’s accurate, I can get behind a concept like that. I think we all get pushed towards commerce and shiny things in the way this world is currently set up and how the system runs, and I’d be the first to agree that there’s gotta be more to life than any of that. If he really wants the answer to that question though, I’m not so sure he’s going to like what he finds. “How much silver will it take?” Oh my friend, you’ll find the amount is terrifyingly low in the era of the influencer and click-bait headlines…but the associated cost is every bit as high as you believe it is.
Find out more about The Follower Of Christ from the official page at Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/the.follower.of.christ
Click this link right here to be the next artist or band featured here at sleepingbagstudios, because hey – why not? All the cool kids are doing it.
