(One of the less evils on their debut album)
This album start’s out with “How Did We Get So Dark?”, and as an intro I feel like this actually works for me. It’s got a darker edge than the stuff on their last album, with a seriously sweet groove as well. I love some of the little details as well here, like some of the backing vocals. Outside of that, it’s a little more of the same, but I do feel like this has a little more structure to the material on their last album. Meaning, it’s not just slightly edgy lyrics and breakdowns. No, there’s actually a good deal of material to sink your teeth into on this intro, so no sir I don’t mind it. Obviously we’re still not dealing with dense or life changing stuff, but that groove is legit my friends. Then we have “Lights Out”, which is more or less what I expected to hear on this album. It’s the same sort of very dense, sort of rigid, sort of bluesy hard rock that we found on their debut. However, there’s a whole lot more memorable moments here. These vocals on the chorus are actually exciting and explosive. I feel like their debut album was filled with so many instrumentals that were stiff and just too skeletal for my liking, but that’s a thing of the past. So yea, I can certainly vibe to “Lights Out”. It’s actually an exciting rock tune that I really wouldn’t mind coming back to. But even with all the good on “Lights Out”, I do feel like some of the later guitar solos are just so damn cheesy, and bring me right back to the days where I thought Royal Blood were ripping off way too many great acts. “I Only Lie When I Love You” is up next, and it’s a track that I have some serious polarizing thoughts on. To an extent, this thick groove is certainly great enough to get me moving every damn time. However, lyrically and vocally this is a huge step back, outside of the chorus that is. As repetitive as that chorus is, with those drums and bass blaring it’s actually pretty epic. But oh God, as far as the verses go, this is the epitome of everything that I seriously can’t get into about Royal Blood. It’s cheesy, but more of all it’s redundant. I literally feel like we got this track lyrically about 3 time on their debut. But that being said there still is a lot to dig about “I Only Lie When I Love You”. But just like that, Royal Blood start to lose me with “She’s Creeping”. When we get moments like this, I’m truly baffled. Up until now, these instrumentals have been pretty solid, but this is just so ugly and sort of boring. The sluggish vocals and verses that are trying way too hard to be sleazy and sexy don’t even come off well. The distorted guitar solo goes right back to my thoughts on Royal Blood trying way too hard to be Queens of the Stone Age, and it’s magnified and made worse a hundred times over with these super sleazy hooks. I totally get what someone would dig about this, but it’s certainly not for me. That being said, I still think that so far this is miles better than their debut.
Royal Blood continue down a very rocky road here with “Look Like You Now”. We’re right back to the same, overly macho, ridiculously fake “blue” rock. Sure, some of the vocals are certainly catchy, but not nearly as some of the earlier tunes here. But instrumentally, I would be lying if I said there was anything remotely interesting about this one. And every time I feel like I’m sort of interested in “Look Like You Now”, one of these awkward instrumental breaks come in and take out whatever continuity that this track was building up. A mess ladies and gentlemen. This very rough road continues on with “Where Are You Now?”. I don’t know what happened, but the instrumentals on this one just sound so rigid and one dimensional. The drums on this one seriously sound so tine and the guitars just come off so generic and not even sonically interesting as they did earlier. And it’s a shame, because I certainly do like some of the vocals, they actually really end up being memorable. “Where Are You Now?” is not that I needed to hear from this duo, that’s for sure. I feel like that chorus that comes in later comes off as an improvement, but that’s because of all the instrumentals added by that time. It’s not what I wanted to hear from this duo. “Don’t Tell” on the other hand, is exactly what I wanted to hear from Royal blood. As soon as this track starts up, I instantly have so much hope for these guys. This track is seriously dark, and the actually sleazy guitar tone that starts this track off really makes everything come off nicely. But I think what makes “Don’t Tell” work, is what made the few tracks on Royal Blood’s debut work. And that my friends, is a sense of danger. I like my rock music dangerous, and that’s exactly how this one comes off. When I hear how simple and great “Don’t Tell” is, I look back at some of this album’s cheesiest moments and I can’t help but shake my head. It’s got a great groove, it’s sexy, it’s dark, and it’s seriously bluesy. Honestly, this is everything I could have asked from Royal Blood. “Hook Line & Sinker” continues to impress, with this seriously gritty and bluesy as hell. To be honest, I didn’t know Royal Blood had this sexy of a track in them. If they’re not going to go out of their way to write stunning lyrics or a conceptual album, I can totally get into THIS as a sound at least. Like most tracks on here, this one has one hell of a groove here. I wouldn’t go as far as to say this is a must listen track, but it’s certainly above average. With this new found swagger and heavier production, I feel like Royal Blood are making some big leaps. And once again, I really love the very dangerous feel to this one, these guys really have to continue to make darker stuff.
“Hole In Your Heart” starts us off with some synths, but I haven't heard Royal Blood do anything with them in a while so I’m totally up for it. This track has another really solid groove, and while this track isn’t as instrumentally in your face it has some really fantastic elements to it. For instant, I love the vocals here a lot actually, and the very explosive chorus here is just fantastic. And while this is almost a complete carbon copy of “Come On Over”, it’s slick and groovy enough to earn a pass in my book. But oh my GOD, just when I think that they’ve won me over with these later tracks we have the album’s finale “Sleep”. Clearly, as far as consistency goes Royal Blood have a long ways to go, because this is seriously awful. There may be a solid groove and some alright instrumentals, but oh god vocally what even is this? I feel like this is just so god damn lazy and boring. As things pick up close to the one minute mark, things do get better, and the chorus overall is pretty fantastic. But these verses remain a complete snooze fest, and this is far from the way I wanted to hear them end this album.
Rating: 7.1/10
Give A Listen To: “How Did We Get So Dark?”, “Lights Out”, “Don’t Tell”, “Hole In Your Heart”
Overall Thoughts: Royal Blood have certainly come a long way since their self titled debut. The production here is heavier, the grooves are stronger, and the darker moments actually come off amazing. But Royal Blood still have major issues with staying consistent, and some of their tracks still come off so cliche and sound like they're copying way too many other bands. Anyways, I digress, this was certainly a big improvement.
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