This snarling, balls-out beast of a debut album from up-and-coming English hard rock duo Royal Blood is probably best categorised as a drum and bass – rather than drum ‘n’ bass – affair. Featuring Mike Kerr on vocals and bass guitar, and Ben Thatcher on percussion, the two Brightonians create an almighty racket utilising a very limited musical arsenal.
Together since 2012, they’ve already been making serious waves and garnered some heavyweight celebrity supporters (most notably Matt Helders, who wore a Royal Blood t-shirt onstage during the Arctic Monkeys Glasto show last year). This self-titled debut comes two-thirds of the way through a remarkable breakthrough year that commenced with a BBC Sound of 2014 nomination and has continued with a succession of highlights including shows with the Monkeys at Finsbury Park, a place on the NME Awards tour and a scintillating debut performance on Later... with Jools Holland (not to mention a now legendary show in Dublin last March).
Clearly influenced by pioneering blues players as much as by modern acts such as Queens Of The Stone Age and White Stripes, these ten songs mix anguished vocals, primal drumming and a bass so skilfully wielded that at times it sounds like a lead guitar. It’s a ferocious riff-driven wall of sound, covered in scrawled graffiti by everyone from The Pixies to Led Zeppelin.
It’s like a contemporary take on a speed-driven, grunge, garage and blues hybrid. Kerr sings like a scalded cat and plays some truly amazing bass, whilst Thatcher doesn’t so much play his drums as seriously assault them.
Lyrically, it’s pure unadulterated macho rock ‘n’ roll. Second cut, ‘Little Monster’ is a case in point: “I’ve got love on my fingers/ Lust on my tongue/ You say you got nothing/ So come out and get some/ Heartache to heartache/ I’m your wolf/ I’m your man/ I say run little monster/ Before you know who I am.”
It’s not all animalistic love and lust, though. “A lot of our songs, especially lyrically, are quite inward and based on personal experiences and relationships,” Kerr has stated. Presumably, powerful album opener ‘Out Of The Black’ falls into this category: “And I promised you/ Like you promised me/ But those vows we made/ We fucked them up for free.”
Of course, we’ve heard this sort of stuff before. The fact that it’s two musicians doing the work of four aside, Royal Blood are not redefining genres. Still, they rock, they roll, and their live shows are bound to be amazing. If Dave Grohl doesn’t declare Royal Blood his new favourite band within a week of this album’s official release, I’ll eat this review.
OUT AUGUST 22.