It seems like barely yesterday that me and Vas were cramped into a dingy club in Brighton, unsure of exactly what the crowd were so fervent about. We'd gone along to get some pictures of another band playing later that night and pushed our way to the front of the bustling mass of people for a closer look, hearing whispers of this interesting new band, Royal Blood.
What happened in the next 30 minutes or so completely split my head apart. How was it possible for a duo to make that much noise and still sound so solid? Going home with my ears buzzing, a quick search online turned up exactly zero info and getting any kind of contact seemed to be a fools errand. After Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders was spotted wearing a Royal Blood t shirt at Glastonbury 2013, the band went incognito sending the rumour mills into melt down and creating a huge hype around vocalist Mike Kerr and drummer Ben Thatcher.
Fast forwarding a year or so, and having steadily built a name for themselves with stints at seemingly every festival ever, we arrive at the début album, Royal Blood which released via Warner on August 25th. But the real question is: Does it live up to the hype?
Album opener "Out Of The Black" is probably the track the guys are best recognised for and with good reason. Taking the rolling intro stabs into a full on crescendo that pushes into a thundering verse is representative of the roller coaster ride that is Royal Blood, and we're only 30 seconds in.
Alongside favourites "Come On Over" and "Figure It Out", we see three of the four singles prior to the album release expended in the opening three tracks. It can be a bold move throwing your most identifiable tracks out right at the start, but it's a sure sign of confidence that the new material is going to be enough to keep listeners engaged. and luckily it's a risk that pays off.
It's in these new tracks that we really get a sense of the influences and history behind Royal Blood. "You Can Be So Cruel" opens with a swaggering rock n' roll riff that has more than a touch of Marc Bolan and T. Rex to it, and "Blood Hands" is like a long lost White Stripes track from the early 2000's, with Mike Kerr doing his best Jack White impression. There are sincere nods to QOTSA, Death From Above 1979, Muse, Wolfmother and just about every rock band of the last decade, and to hell with the subtleties. They may sound like these guys but that's what makes them so great. They have more than enough bravado to pull it off and it's refreshing to see this kind of music getting some mainstream shout outs. "Ten Tonne Skeleton" is my personal favourite of the new tracks with Ben Thatcher's militaristic beat's mixing with the almost synth sounds of Mike's bass/ guitar hybrid, to create something Matt Bellamy would be proud of.
Royal Blood is an album that's been promising us so much for so long, and it's a huge relief to discover that the wait has been worthwhile. Fans of the band can't possibly be anything less than ecstatic with this one, and there are more than enough huge riffs and booming drums to suck even those with a passing interest in Royal Blood into their vortex.
Royal Blood is available to buy now on itunes with the link at the top of the page or you can catch it in it's entirety on Spotify.
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