"A promising start from a band clearly destined for follow-up material and a taste of their talents as Rock musicians".
"I begrudgingly accept that this band have wings".
"At the risk of possibly contradicting myself somewhere, I believe music should be judged on the music and not the circumstances which brought it to my ears".
- IaSg14, Royal Blood - Royal Blood review
After listening to the debut, I was excited to hear the band's next effort. Generally, when a band explodes onto the Rock scene with a good debut, the follow up is almost certainly better due to the band finding their feet and getting a bit more confident in the studio. However, there are rare occasions where the debut is so good that the follow up can't possibly meet the same standard or the hype surrounding the debut has led to overconfidence and arrogance in either the studio executives overseeing the album or the band themselves, leading to a decline in quality due to the poor decisions consequently being made.
Royal Blood's follow up to their eponymous debut probably wouldn't have made quite the same impact if it was released as the first album instead but that's not to say it's a bad album. It's got some decent songs and if you liked the original, there's plenty for you to get stuck into. However, it doesn't start off with the strongest step. "How Did We Become So Dark?" is a pretty poor album and title track. There's nothing particularly memorable about it compared to some of their other tunes and whilst it doesn't have to rock my socks off, a good album opener for a band's second album should at least announce their return in some impressive way or form.
At least the band knew which songs on the album made the best singles. "Lights Out" kicks things off with a great intro and crunchy riff-based Rock that fans of Royal Blood's debut should enjoy. "Where Are You Now?" also showcases some of the subtle improvements the band have made to their own sound, tightening up some of the technical drumming and basswork. I've said in the past that bands don't need to innovate with every album (especially if they've only released about three or four) but it's still good to hear the band getting better at their craft and that deserves some respect.
Some tracks go a step further with the bass riffs and even introduce new tones/instruments ("Hook, Line & Sinker", "Hole In Your Heart") although at its core, this album is basically just Royal Blood (album) but with a different cover. The majority of songs sound like your basic modern Hard Rock tracks with elements still borrowed from Queens Of The Stone Age and Rival Sons. Sadly, unlike the first album, How Did We Become So Dark? fails to capture the best elements of those bands and end up sounding like terrible tributes or covers ("She's Creeping", "Look Like You Know").
One strength the album boasts is containing a great variety of tracks to say it's still just Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher pumping out the Rock. It might sound like typical modern Hard Rock but the different structures, rhythms, tempos and everything in between make this something a bit more than your standard cash-in from 80s groups still clinging onto the Rock charts like a lizard on a breezy cliff. Unfortunately, for fans of Hard Rock with a bit more to it than percussion and a few fuzzy riffs, there's still nothing to entice new fans.
Royal Blood's music is still the same as it was when they first became the next big thing so if you want falsetto vocal screeching, double bass drum solos or even just a guitar, you're going to have to wait another couple of albums. Alternatively, you could find another band (as I don't see any of those things happening as long as Royal Blood are still mainstream artists) but if you were hoping for something more after their debut, you're going to be disappointed after you finish with album closer "Sleep", and not just because that song is boring as fuck.
How Did We Become So Dark? is good but not for Rock fans still unconvinced by Royal Blood's material or those hopin the band would release a full-on masterpiece after a strong debut. It's an OK follow-up with some small improvements here & there but nothing that reaches out through the headphones and throttles your brain's pleasure centres until you're left slumped in drooling bliss, although I can forgive that as long as the promise is still there.
Royal Blood are still babies on the Rock scene so it's a little unfair to judge them on their ability to release smashing album after smashing album (unless you want another Oasis on your hands). However, I find myself struggling to recall any of the songs on this album a day after listening to them repeatedly for this review so by all means, judge them on their current inability to write more than one album's worth of great music. I rate this album 5/10 for the effort but if it had just one song that stuck in my mind in a positive way, it could've made a 6.
No comments:
Post a Comment