Music Review: Royal Blood, Royal Blood

By Melissa Bratcher

Jack White, what hath you wrought? The debut album from Brighton UK’s Royal Blood sounds amazingly like the White Stripes, from the gutbucket blues stylings to Mike Kerr’s anguished howls and yelps. They, too, are a duo, though the thing that sets them apart is they are a bass and drum combo. I have no idea how one can make a bass sound so guitary, but Kerr does it. Hell of a trick, that is.

Royal Blood is a fine debut. The opener, “Out Of The Black,” throbs and lurches furiously, quieter and seductive on the verses and then ripping on the choruses. This sets up the basic songwriting style for the first half of the record, a quiet/loud/quiet/loud configuration. The bass is meaty and gritty, Ben Thatcher’s drums heavy like an anvil. It certainly works.

It works so well that they repeat the trick on “Come On Over” and “Figure It Out,” which is White Stripes-y down to the DNA. Kerr’s delivery of the rapid-fire lyrics, the weighty bass sound, albeit with better drumming—it’s familiar and comforting and blistering at the same time. The sound on “You Can Be So Cruel” is enormous. The drum sound is massive, the bass thumps and it would sound brilliant coming from the speakers of a Camaro in the ’70s.

The second half of the album is where things change. Kerr’s vocals on “Loose Change” are sharp, amping up to a jittery fire. The line “Quit playing god on your telephone” is curious, and leaving me thinking about app ideas. The bass line of the frankly impressive “Ten Tonne Skeleton” slashes and parries (it has been incredibly difficult not writing about the guitar line. My brain keeps telling me it can’t be a bass). Kerr goes into full on rock god posture with his vocals, and the melody of the chorus is glorious.

While Royal Blood can’t escape comparisons to The White Stripes and Black Keys, there’s more to them than that. In their sound, you can hear the influences of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath (though, to be honest, I imagine all bands are influenced by Black Sabbath), perhaps Iron Maiden. They rock. Hard.

I still have no idea how a bass sounds like that.

Royal Blood was released on August 25 by Warner Bros. Records.

Tour Dates:
September 27 – Humphreys – San Diego, CA
September 30 – The Masonic Auditorium – San Francisco, CA
October 2 – Revolution Center – Boise, ID
October 3 – Performing Arts Center – Spokane, WA
October 5 – Macewan Hall – Calgary, AB
October 6 – Shaw Conference – Edmonton, AB
October 7 – TCU Place – Saskatoon, SK
October 9 – Burton Cummings – Winnipeg, MB
October 11 – State Theatre – Minneapolis, MN
October 12 – Orpheum Theater – Madison, WI