IN REVIEW: Royal Blood - "How Did We Get So Dark?"

When you're a young band and you make it big with your debut, especially in the UK, there is a special kind of pressure in approaching what to do next. On one hand, you've got all of these new fans and corporate interests (read: your record label, management, advertising agencies etc.) pleading to stay the course, don't fix what's not broken and ride your momentum all the way to the bank. On the other hand, there's often the temptation on the artists' side to grow the sound, reach for the fringes and fulfill an artistic destiny that couldn't happen the first time out for whatever reason, be it financial limitations, immaturity or otherwise.

So, what of Royal Blood, then? Hailed in certain circles as saviours of rock and derided as pale imitations of superior bands in others, there's a strong case for both sticking with what brought you to the dance and proving to the naysayers that you're more than a derivative amalgam of Death From Above and Queens of the Stone Age.

Where How Did We Get So Dark? lands is closer to the former, but there are subtle progressions; a stray keyboard here, a slinkier groove there, a few more percussive layers added on to their thick and crunchy beats. The bass-led bombast is still in full effect, but a sexed-up romper like She's Creeping or a shimmering hookfest like Look Like You Know hint that there's a desire to take this sound even further away from pure rock satisfaction and into sweaty dance rock territory at some point.

That isn't quite yet though, and by and large Royal Blood serve up more of what got them all of the attention they did. The lead-up singles are home to the kind of hard grooves that you're used to, and damn if they don't hit with the same impact of their previous record's smash hits. Lights Out might not be quite as immediate as, say, Out of the Black, but it's no less effective once it sinks itself into your brain. Ditto the banger Hook, Line & Sinker, whose riff is simple yet so, so juicy. Then, there's surefire stadium electrifier I Only Lie When I Love You, which will be slaying on the festival circuit all summer long.

With that said, perhaps the most obvious change between albums one and two is in the songs themselves; there are hooks everywhere, lessons in crowd pleasing picked up from touring their first record so hard. There are a few less thrilling tracks, suggesting they haven't perfected their formula just yet, but there aren't really any forgettable songs here either. At the end of the day, How Did We Get So Dark? does its job most admirably, guaranteeing satisfaction for fans while offering glimpses into expanded artistic expression in the future. Royal Blood could have easily phoned in a reasonable facsimile of their debut and called it a payday, but this record proves that they don't plan on taking the easiest path, and that's what's most exciting about it.

June 16, 2017 • Black Mammoth/Warner Bros.
Highlights Lights Out • I Only Lie When I Love You • She's Creeping

Year in Rock 2025

Alright, I've got some explaining to do. By now anyone who's visited this blog is well aware of how infrequently I've used this space in recent years; aside from the occasional fertile year of content, I really haven't posted all that often over the last five years or so. There are many reasons for this, which have already been outlined in previous apology posts; but, essentially, it boils down to my own laziness and the cold reality that blogs are, like Refused (again), fucking dead. So, I wouldn't hold my breath for a triumphant return to reviews, or even semi-regular posts, but: a) I feel like Year in Rock posts have always belonged here and, even though I've experimented with different methods of presentation recently and been satisfied, the "blink and you missed it" unveiling via Facebook stories this year was perhaps ultimately a disservice to the records I lauded. After all, cramming the list into short videos isn't too far off from ju...

Year in Rock 2011 Nominee: Sam Roberts Band

SAM ROBERTS BAND I Feel You From: Collider Released: May 10 Having already endured the breakout success ( Brother Down was Canada's it rock song of 2002), the tentative dabbling in the U.S. market, as is the rite of passage for all moderately successful Canuck artists (2003's debut We Were Born in a Flame was the best time to try; one of the best albums of the year, it made a small dent in the American mindset upon its release there a year later), the difficult, druggy third album (the aptly named 2005 disc Chemical City ), and the subdued creative step backward (2008's Love at the End of the World , aside from hit single Them Kids , was really kinda bland), it seems according to script that Sam Roberts would start settling in on his fourth album (and first with the band credited as equal contributors), Collider (you know, I think it was a bad idea to give me brackets). Well, as far as settling in goes, Roberts does and doesn't on Collider . W...

IN REVIEW: Rancid - "Trouble Maker"

As far as punk rock goes, it's hard to name a hotter hot streak than the trio of records Rancid cranked out between 1995 and 2000; the star making ...And Out Come the Wolves , the far-reaching Life Won't Wait and their balls-to-the-wall second self-titled album solidly positioned Rancid as leaders of the second generation of punk. It also preceded a period of slow progression, as Rancid would take eleven years to release their next three records. By the time ...Honor Is All We Know came in 2014, many fans (myself included) had to wonder whether or not this was the end of the road. Such concerns are handily dealt with on the closing track of the standard edition of their ninth record, the positively punishing This Is Not the End . Well, okay then, that's sorted. Now, what of this new record? What do we make of the use of their original logo on the cover, a logo that hasn't graced a Rancid record in 25 years? Is this a throwback to the band's heyday, a new begin...

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