Album Review :: Royal Blood - Royal Blood

Royal Blood

Royal Blood

August 25 2014 (Warner Bros)

7.5/10

Words: Alison Mack

Blood is thicker than water they say, and when that blood is royal too, you just know and expect it to be a class apart. Brighton's Royal Blood proved one of last year's outstanding new acts, and their all-firing beast of a debut album confirms their position.

Despite there being just the two of them - Mike Kerr, vocals, bass; Ben
Thatcher, drums - the duo still sound like an arsenal of exploding cannons. Kerr, who also sings in such a way that sounds at odds with what he manages to thrash out of his guitar, serves up hard and fast rock ‘n’roll; achieving an effect on a bass that resembles a lead guitar, and which no doubt had Jimmy Page puzzling over similarly when he turned up to watch them play in New York.

The much vaunted debut album delivers all that was to be expected: massive riffs, nods to the likes of White Stripes and QOTSA, and enough head-banging over its duration to cause a full-scale migraine, following on from their four preceding singles and EP. From the start with 'Out Of The Black' and the likes of the swaggering 'Little Monster' and 'Come On Over' with their devastating riffs, to the less 'exuberant' (if one can justifiably say that of Royal Blood), but darker intricacies of 'Blood Hands', or the well-crafted melody of  'You Can Be So Cruel', they make for compelling, attention-grabbing listening.

'Figure It Out' deals its easy groove, weaved in and out -  and perhaps the one track that felt somewhat familiar to Mr. Page with an unabashed hat tip to Led Zep. Chords are executed precisely on 'Ten Tonne Skeleton' and ferocious closer 'Better Strangers' - before it's all over in just 32 minutes of ear time.

Despite it's brevity, however, Royal Blood have provided a meaty, muscular first album, with plenty more to come on their next you can be sure.