Brighton two-piece Royal Blood, now officially – if almost certainly against their
wishes – the ‘saviours of rock’, return with high expectations after their
outstanding debut album from 2014. Those
expectations are met by a sophomore effort that’s just as good as its
predecessor. The only criticism one can
level at How Did We Get So Dark? is
that it follows a very similar formula to the first album. That familiarity is
the sole reason that I haven’t loved this quite as much. The song writing is just as good, though, and consistently so across the
whole record. That, in itself, amounts to quite an achievement. They are an
even tighter unit now, with every track coiled and unleashed unerringly. ‘Lights Out’ rumbles its way into a panoramic
chorus, ‘Where Are You Now?’ builds from a terrific drum refrain and then undercuts
itself with a riff that shouldn’t fit but does, and the title track brings some
extra bluesy swagger to the party. The stand-out here is ‘Hole In Your Heart’,
which uses a creepy keyboard part to step beyond the template. This suggests
that album three may move things forward; for all its quality (which is high), How Did We Get So Dark? definitely is something of a re-tread, but ‘Hole
In Your Heart’ shows that there are great places that they can go, without
having to throw out what makes them so good now. Seeing them again live this
year, these new tracks stacked up perfectly against the older ones. Always a good sign. Difficult second
album? Not a bit of it.
sample track: Hole In Your Heart