Royal Blood are Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher: the latest in a long line of rock two-pieces that have been assaulting the senses since the first appearance of White Stripes a decade and a half ago or so. This pair of guys from Brighton make muscular blues-rock that suggests the sound of the Black Keys’ younger, feral cousins or perhaps Drenge’s older brothers. Huge riffs, a bone-crushing beat and a volume that is permanently set at “11” back up Kerr’s suitably desperate howl that neither aims for heavy metal falsetto nor punk rock bark. This is music that would be just at home at Download as it would be at Glastonbury.
Album opener, and debut single, “Out of the Black” has more than a sniff of the Black Keys but comes with considerably more heft. Mike Kerr yells “You made a fool out of me” while a tropical storm of sonic violence emphatically drives the point home. “Figure It Out” begins in the vein of the White Stripes when they were worth a listen and then slips into AC/DC territory. “You Can Be So Cruel” adds a tinge of ZZ Top-style boogie to the mix. In fact, it’s big, fat riffs from Kerr and thunderous drumming from Thatcher the whole way with no let-up at all.
While this pure power is more than enough to grab the listener’s attention and get the hips moving, the lack of light and shade on Royal Blood could leave the album open to accusations of being a bit one-dimensional. That said, it certainly packs a mighty punch and definitely suggests that Royal Blood could be well-worth checking out in the live arena. You would certainly feel nothing but pity for anyone that was going to come on-stage after this lot had finished doing their thing.
