Just over three-and-a-half years since receiving a nomination for the BBC’s Sound of 2014, Brighton-based two-piece Royal Blood has enjoyed a huge surge of popularity after their release of their eponymous debut album. Using just a drum kit and a bass guitar, the duo has worked its magic to bring powerful, anthemic hard rock to the masses; Mike Kerr’s bass is hooked up to two amps, with one ramping his rapid riff-work up an octave to emulate some heavy guitar effects. Their second release How Did We Get So Dark? builds on the sound from the first album, offering evolution rather than revolution.
Opening with the titular track, the raw garage band-style drumming breaks into a dark, Queens of the Stone Age-esque riff; if anything, it more than bears a passing similarity to QOTSA’s back catalogue, and the lingering moodiness in Kerr’s bass-playing teems with influences from their Era Vulgaris album. “Lights Out” was the first song released from Royal Blood’s new album, offering familiarity to fans of the first offering. The chugging bass riff adds a flavour of urgency, before melting into a slinky, effect-addled solo after the midway point.
“I Only Lie When I Love You” is a short, angular blast through perhaps more QOTSA-influenced riffs and punkish, truncated vocals, before edging into “She’s Creeping”, a stoner-rock-inspired track with some uneasy, edgy instrumentation. I’ll be honest, at this point I had to check whether Josh Homme was involved with the production of this album, because the brooding atmospheres on display are so similar to those he’s achieved throughout his musical career. Anyway, I’ll cease with the Queens of the Stone Age comparisons…
“Look Like You Know” isn’t particularly interesting apart from the higher-pitched effects in the background, which add a touch of lightness to the otherwise dense progression of the song. “Where Are You Now?” commences with a slight hint of Iron Maiden locked away in the opening hook, before giving way to some monstrous and powerful breaks, which hit hard and deliver a swift slap to the face of the listener.
The juddering, unsettling opener of “Don’t Tell” experiments with a slight taste of tremolo, before settling into a slowly-paced rhythm. Kerr cuts through the dogged, lumbering track with some bordering-on-falsetto vocals before the record steps into “Hook, Line & Sinker”.
It’s absolutely filthy. Immediately, the song plunges into a rampaging riff before Kerr drags the song along with some treacle-like bass – it’s dark and oozing, with a bitter sweetness to offset the heaviness throughout. And in that context, “Hole In Your Heart” couldn’t start more differently, with some sharp-yet-ominous keyboards providing an opening different to anything experienced before on a Royal Blood album. As they build, the duo ferociously drops back into its heavy bass-and-drums formula, before the keyboards during the verse to build the intensity once more.
Winding down with “Sleep”, the sheer energy of the rest of the album means that another less-fast-paced track offers some degree of respite. That’s not to say it’s not as powerful or as intense, and builds the cloudy thoughts of late-night over-thinking with uncomfortable accuracy before bringing the album to a satisfying close.
How Did We Get So Dark? takes Royal Blood’s tried-and-tested combination of Kerr’s heavily-distorted bass and Ben Thatcher’s frenzied drumming, but adds new elements to develop their sound into something more densely-packed and visceral. It’s not quite as primal as the first album, but How Did We Get So Dark? still packs plenty of bite.
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