SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: ROYAL BLOOD – DEAD COMPANY

ROYAL BLOOD
DEAD COMPANY
WARNER MUSIC GROUP

Royal Blood is back. While the alternative rock duo has steadily released music over the last 12 years, their fifth album, Dead Company, marks a return to form from lead vocalist and bassist Mike Kerr and drummer Ben Thatcher. While the band has experimented with glossy textures and the use of expanded, synth driven instrumentation over the years with a more compositional sound, particularly on their last album, 2023’s Back to the Water Below, Dead Company signifies a shift to a sound akin to that of their explosive 2014 debut.

Royal Blood sets the tone by kicking things off with a trio of singles that led up to the album’s release. The title track is thunderous as a fuzzy bass rips across a foundation of relentless drums. The pre-chorus follows a sinister harmonic progression before the song comes to life with a massive chorus, driven by yet another riff. “Dead Company” is undeniable in its power, acting as a herald for what is to come. The following song, “Swallow the Bomb,” takes a cue from the Josh Homme songbook, providing something more alternative with a driving pace with Kerr using the bass like both a rhythm and lead guitar all in one. The finale of the opening salvo comes in the shape of “Ten Over Ten,” possibly the heaviest and most dynamic song on the record as the duo plays with space and density between a sonic barrage of an instrumental motif, followed by a slinky, jangly verse that finds little between Thatcher’s thrashing cymbals.

While the opening singles clearly usher in a heavier, more rock centred sound, they also display three distinct shades to the band’s voice as songwriters and performers. The common denominator rests in both the power of their performance and the anthemic energy within each chorus. While leaner and grittier than they’ve sounded in years, Royal Blood continues to prove their worth as songwriters who know how to escalate a song into the stratosphere with intensely catchy moments. “Mother Never Told You” stands as an exceptional example of this as the verse grows from a winding groove into one of the greatest, larger than life moments on Dead Company. Additionally, there is a darker tone to the record as heard on the sleazy “Nowhere All Along,” or the hard funk strut of “Take ‘Em All.”

While neither as revolutionary or gritty as their 2014 self-titled debut, Dead Company is a welcomed step away from the pop sensibilities and glossy arrangements that have crept into the band’s sound over their last few records. As such, Royal Blood sounds revitalized as they double down on the hard hitting, riff centred sound that made them among the most promising bands to emerge in the last decade. With Dead Company, Royal Blood flashes their teeth with a record that captures the thrill and danger that can only come from a Bonafide rock ‘n’ roll outfit.

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