Royal Blood have followed up their 2014 self-titled album with a release that sounds a hell of a lot like their 2014 self-titled album.
There is nothing inherently terrible about Royal Blood, except for the fact that they’re almost tricking people into thinking their music is interesting, just because they’re a new popular rock band, a combination of words quite unfamiliar these days. But their music is consistent, bluesy, and whilst safe and unremarkable, they really are doing nothing wrong, they’re just not doing anything right – and by “right” I don’t mean correct, I just mean we’re two albums in and the duo have already turned into their own cliché, or maybe they’re borrowing somebody else’s cliché.
Last week, my girlfriend remarked that if aliens came to Earth, and they wanted to hear ‘rock music’, she would put a Royal Blood song on. While encapsulating the spirit of rock music isn’t a bad thing to do, the fact that they rely heavily on the mere outline of the genre just makes me think of them as generic. It’s like when JBL says “if you create a superstar from the ground up, you get Randy Orton”, yeah we get it, he’s a basic create-a-wrestler. If you were to make your own rock band, Royal Blood would be the skeleton.
Want to know just how unadventurous they are? When ‘Where Are You Now?’ starts up with its little drum intro, it sounds like previous track ‘Look Like You Know’ is starting again, something that might not irk that many people, but this is formulaic rock at its most irritating, it’s a right good clean haircut. Speaking of ‘Look Like You Know’, man, is that an Arctic Monkeys song or what? And I’m talking ‘AM’ Arctic Monkeys, so now it sounds like Royal Blood are ripping off a band at their most unspectacular and directionless. They may as well have called the album ‘RB’.
If simple modern rock is what you want, Royal Blood have got you covered, but for those that want more (and let’s face it, ‘more’ is very achievable), I’d recommend the likes of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Ty Segall, two artists that make guitar-heavy music, by the way. Like I said, the music is nothing terrible, but ‘How Did We Get So Dark?’ is just so reminiscent of the band’s first album, but whatever fresh appeal they may have garnered at that point has been shredded this time. I’m actually surprised I’ve had this much to say about it, especially considering I’ve only mentioned two songs. Hmm, let’s do a short version of my ‘good and bad’ thing so that we can learn about one or two more tracks.
The Good, the Bad and the Blood:
‘How Did We Get So Dark?’ – I quite like the idea of the falsetto section that repeats the song title as it heads to the exit, but I don’t think they nail it that well, it just sounds like it clashes.
‘I Only Lie When I Love You’ – Another likeable aspect – how slow the title is sung each time the music cuts off, that’s pretty cool.
‘She’s Creeping’ – A song that makes me think the band have it in them somewhat to actually branch out and make their music a bit weirder, but it never works out that well, and they just end up returning to their hollow roots.
‘Where Are You Now?’ – There are some pretty cool chord progressions in this one, also moderately funky.
‘Don’t Tell’ – Despite its basic reliance on easy chords rather than riffs, this is probably the best song on the album. I guess the band do more with less here, as opposed to their usual reliance on doing less with less.
‘Hook, Line & Sinker’ – Another one with an attempted weirder approach to songwriting and melody, but I think this song sucks. The main melody is just unpleasant.
So, there you go. Whether or not this album is actually insufferable is completely based on expectations. I wasn’t expecting much, I didn’t get much, it’s just bastardised averageness.
Key song – ‘Don’t Tell’.
Weakest song – ‘Hook, Like & Sinker’.
Rating – D
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