Track By Track: Royal Blood explore their pop side on ‘Typhoons’
Royal Blood’s third offering moves further into pop territory, but truly shines when the band go back to their rock roots
★★★☆☆
PHOTO: Royal Blood
First off, I want to say, I was a fan of Royal Blood’s self-titled debut they released back in 2014. It came roaring onto the scene and felt hungry and fresh. It was also, definitively, rock music. Fast forward to 2021 and their third album, Typhoons, feels altogether different. At this point, I’d argue the band now sit less with one foot in pop, but more so most of their bodies. They’ve left a foot in rock, but otherwise, their sound has dramatically changed over the course of six years and three albums.
That said, you can see a through-line. Certain riffs and ways they play have grown and matured – assuming their current ‘sound’ is what they’ve been aiming towards all along.
Typhoons opens with the track Oblivion. It has a fuzzy, scuzzy quality to it, with a rhythmic, driving beat. It put me a little in mind of The White Stripes – something I felt was present on their debut album, but it’s even more noticeable here. As far as album openers go, it’s okay. It sets the tone for what we can probably expect, but I admit, it hasn’t quite rocked my socks off just yet.
The second track, Typhoons, feels like more of the same. It’s… good, I guess, but it doesn’t quite give me anything that I can properly sink my teeth into. The third track, Who Needs Friends, slows down the tempo and threatens to build to a crescendo a few times, but backs away from letting loose. I assume the band are building to something – we shall see.
Next, we have Million and One. This track has an undercurrent of ‘80s electro about it and feels like it would make for a good singalong number on a long drive. It’s not particularly heavy, light on the rock with lashings of pop. Nice enough, if that’s your thing.
Limbo, the next one, begins with a bang and feels like it has more edge and bite already. Are we warming up? Where is this going? The chorus does, however, lapse back into a poppy, Daft Punk type of territory, but the band have teased me with something a little more substantial. They back off again with Either You Want It – a track with a mildly interesting staccato beat and verses that bop along in a fairly pleasant way but, frustratingly, it still doesn’t give me anything I can grab with both hands.
Okay… now we’re talking. The standout track of the album, Boilermaker; a fan favourite, understandably. Finally, this is what I’d been waiting for. It’s more upbeat, deliciously moody and downright sultry. To me, this feels like the sort of sound the band should be focusing on. I mean… it’s what I want to hear from them. Incidentally, I’ve just read that Queens of the Stone Age’s frontman, Josh Homme, worked on this track, which makes sense. It has vitality and a filthy, sensual quality.
They keep things going with Mad Visions, another upbeat number that feels like a good running track – out in the woods and fields with your head held high and enjoying life, that sort of thing. Hold On, the next track, keeps things ticking along, yet it’s so similar to Mad Visions I thought it was the same track and had to double-check.
They wind things down and close off the album with All We Have Is Now: an introspective and slightly melancholic piano piece, one that perhaps serves as a comedown after the climactic triple bill which began with Boilermaker.
All in all, I feel Typhoons as an album has its moments, but a lot of the tracks just didn’t have enough bite or spark to truly grab my attention. Boilermaker is head and shoulders above everything else on the album, which just makes me wish they’d have worked with Josh Homme for the whole thing. I think whether you love it or not will very much depend on whether this type of pop with traces of rock is your thing. If it is, you’ll be a happy bunny.
See them live:
