Review Summary: Prepare yourself for a RIFF BOMB
Some people say that rock is dead, but for me it's only dead in the mainstream, because we have so many great bands doing awesome albums that don't gain mainstream success(and sometimes, this is frustrating). In the rock radio stations, Indie and Nickelback copycats reign absolute, but one day a band caught my attention. The song I heard was called "Little Monster", and it had some QOTSA-like riffs and a gorgeous chorus. So, I did my research about them, and found that they didn't had even released an album yet, only an EP called "Out of the Black", and man, that EP rocks hard. So I waited patiently for their album, and it was definitely worth the wait.
Royal Blood's S/T album has 10 tracks of pure RIFFS (and for my surprise, they don't have a guitarist, only a bass). It starts with "Out of the Black", which has a pounding riff and crushing drums that come together to create a classic song that is a sign that rock is alive and well. Through the album, you have a lot of those riff-based songs with influences of Muse(Out of the Black, Come On Over), QOTSA(You Can Be So Cruel, Little Monster) and White Stripes(Loose Change, Figure It Out), but still manage have a style of their own. Songs like "Blood Hands" and "Ten Tonne Skeleton" are some of the songs that shows their unique style and they're a sign of what path they will probably follow in the next album.
Mike's vocals are smooth, but when it has to be more aggressive, it succeeds pretty well. His bass lines have almost a guitar sound to it, and all of them have a good chance to get stuck in your head for days. Ben's drums have this groovy/hip hop feel that works very well in the songs, maybe being the most talented of the duo. Oh yeah, they're a duo, like I said, they don't have a guitarist, it's only a vocalist/bassist and a drummer. It's really hard to believe in that because they sound more like a full band than a lot of bands these days.
Royal Blood's S/T is a modern Hard Rock album that shows how much real rock is only dead in the mainstream eyes, even if they have a great chance to blow up in the charts in a close future.
Recommended Tracks:
Out of the Black
Little Monster
You Can Be So Cruel
Loose Change
