Elemental and impeccable style
British duo Royal Blood has always focused on their elemental music style, using simplistic bass, guitar, drums and some filthy angst to become one of Britain’s biggest bands. With radio silence over the last four years with the release of How Did We Get So Dark?, the band was questioned if they would make it back to the charts once again. Their newest album, Typhoons, is their redemption tactic to return to stardom.
This shimmering album is definitely an upgrade, adding a sort of dance-influenced flair to their elemental music (thinking Daft Punk). The album’s opener, “Trouble’s Coming,” is the direct mixing of these styles, almost a disco-like barren groove with the edge of old school rock. The filthy guitar strums, once again, rebirthing their elemental style into new music. This continues in “Oblivion,” striking hard with the angst and intrigue foregone in modern rock today.
“Typhoons” has a bit of a glam-rock aura to it, as conversational verses collide off of each other like cars during a rush-hour accident. Drummer Ben Thatcher welds each verse with a minuscule drum riff, just long enough to keep the song flowing. “Who Needs Friends” is a bit more eclectic, leaning towards an alternative style with elemental modernisms to it.
Once you get a taste for the first five seconds of any song on this album, it quickly flips into a new direction, following a different path than the one you had set to listen to. While this seems counterintuitive, it keeps listeners on their toes and makes people beg for more. “Limbo” is one of these tracks, starting with a dance tune and morphing into something much rawer. A timely interruption from Mike Kerr starts as a riff and ends with breaching vocals in an impeccable tune.
With new infusions, “Either You Want It” follows a softer path, though it remains raw with dirty bass riffs. As the song progresses, it seems to climb harder and harder rock. “Boilermaker” has the same raw naturalness to it, verging in similarity to their How Did We Get So Dark? hit, “Hook, Line & Sinker.” This song is definitely a step up for Royal Blood.
“Mad Visions” is a techno-rock fusion, similar to the sounds of 2010s alternative rock. This track uses fade and reverb as tools, manipulating each soundwave in a process for the production of something spectacular. It maintains the shimmering dance vibe with elemental rock. “Hold On” really holds on to the flanger guitar pedal with angst to cripple the dance style in songs before it. But to slow down further is “All We Have Is Now” slows the RPMs down to almost zero compared to the rest of the album. It’s a moody reflection of time passed and time as a whole, digging into who’s important in life and how to realize it.
A Royal Blood song seems to follow one course. Once the song is played, it becomes all up to the band to take people to the end. It’s a blind ride into what they’ve created, which is nothing but elemental and stylish. Their new album Typhoons takes this to heart, emerging out of their roots to bring something more stylish to the music world.
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