Back To The Water Below

Royal Blood

explicit

Released on 9/8/23 by Warner Records
Main artists: Royal Blood
Genre: Alternative & Indie

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The English duo have gone on a strange journey with their last two albums. Typhoons, released in 2021, which strongly favored electro and danceable rhythms à la French Touch, divided their original fanbase all while garnering a new, wider audience. Everyone expected the group to fully own their U-turn and throw themselves into new experiments in sound, but instead, we’re faced with a record that’s more rock, and unavoidably calls back to the two first albums spawned by Royal Blood. However…although everything starts off strong with massive, stoner rock (“Mountains at Midnight” as the opener, “Tell Me When It’s Too Late”), Back to the Water Below still possesses a certain sense of pop melody, notably on the vocals, which prevents this new release from being simply classified as a step backwards.

What remains constant is their amazing way of getting into the groove on every riff. Fun fact: although it’s hard not to compare certain songs from the first (or even the second) album to the work of the legendary Queens of the Stone Age, the parallel is, in a way, still valid, as the new tracks evoke again and again the atmosphere Josh Homme’s group have developed since their album …Like Clockwork. What may be missing is that little twist that hooks you in, which at times fails to transform certain melodies into real anthems, and fight against the monolithic side that’s in the group’s nature as a “mere” duo of bass and drums.

Back to the Water Below is hardly lacking in more mainstream songs, as the two companions don't hold back from trying to give a little bit of The Beatles on songs like “There Goes My Cool,” which, like a number of the other tracks on the album, features a piano discreetly placed in the background. It goes to show it sometimes takes just a few more musicians to fill out a track. Doubling back to a sound that’s a bit more rock, Royal Blood nevertheless try to change things up, turning toward different sources of inspiration. Perhaps the real transition album is actually this one and not Typhoons, which, all of a sudden, seems more like a parenthesis. © Chief Brody/Qobuz

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Back To The Water Below

Royal Blood

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Mountains At Midnight

00:03:06

Spike Stent, Mixer - Matt Colton, Masterer - Pete Hutchings, Engineer - Royal Blood, Composer, Producer, MainArtist - Ben Thatcher, Drums, Percussion - Mike Kerr, Composer, Vocals, Backing Vocals, Bass - Matt Wolach, Assistant Mixer - Liam Hebb, AssistantEngineer

Under exclusive licence to Warner Records UK, a division of Warner Music UK Limited, © 2023 Imperial Galactic Limited t/a Black Mammoth Under exclusive licence to Warner Records UK, a division of Warner Music UK Limited, ℗ 2023 Imperial Galactic Limited t/a Black Mammoth

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