TATV GRAL brings queer leather culture and dark synth ritualism to ‘Treachery’
TATV GRAL
Chicago-based dark synth and industrial project TATV GRAL has released “Treachery,” a self-released single produced by William Faith at 13 Studio Chicago. The track comes with an official video you can see below. A four-track remix EP follows in July 2026.
The “Treachery” EP includes the original version and three remixes. DSTR is Daniel Myer of Haujobb, Tweaker is Chris Vrenna of Nine Inch Nails, and [melter] is part of the Chicago underground scene.
The original track is available now, with the complete EP scheduled for 6 July 2026.
Hellenistic astrology, archetypes and queer visual language
“Treachery” draws on Hellenistic astrology, archetypal psychology and queer leather imagery. TATV GRAL’s Allen Addington connects the track to Saturn and Mars, two planets associated in the source material with betrayal.
“It was a discovery in the ancient texts that unlocked the whole song – both Saturn and Mars independently carry the signification of ‘Treachery’, translated directly from the Ancient Greek. Two malefic forces, each already marked by betrayal, meeting in the same charged space.
And he adds: “Following Richard Tarnas and James Hillman, I wanted to explore that archetypal collision phenomenologically – the Old Man and the Young Man, bondage and erotic force – seen through a gay male gaze and the cinematic shadow world of William Friedkin’s Cruising.”
Musically, “Treachery” has a mix of industrial, EBM and dark electronics.
About TATV GRAL
TATV GRAL is the Chicago, Illinois solo project of multimedia artist Allen Addington. TATV GRAL has been active since the mid-nineties offering a mix of dark synth and industrial, thematically inspired by archetypal psychology, the gay male gaze and ritual containment.
The project debuted in May 2019 with “The Chase”. TATV GRAL then released “Ouroboros (demo)” and “Chiron” in June 2019, followed by “Stay” and “EGO disease” in July 2019. “Soul Divine” followed in March 2020, and “Noncommittal Grey” appeared in March 2023.
Three years later we see the “Treachery EP”, listed for July 2026.
Note that we previously mentioned TATV GRAL in an article about the final EP “It All Falls Apart” by The Funeral March and Joe Whiteaker (R.I.P.). That March 2025 EP has TATV GRAL among the acts appearing at the Rockford release event for The Funeral March and Joe Whiteaker’s final EP “It All Falls Apart.”
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