Initially I was fairly disappointed with Royal Blood’s
third album. Typhoons felt less immediate and less vital than what had
gone before. But it turns out that it is a persistent record. I found I kept
returning to it, and with repeat listens came a shift in perspective about what
I was looking for from Royal Blood. The signs were there. In my write up
to their sophomore album in 2017 (which also placed 8th), I said
that there was one outlier track that that “suggest[ed] that album three may
move things forward…”. Typhoons does just that (it just took me a few
months to follow). This is no longer a garage rock two piece – Mike Kerr and Ben
Thatcher are now joined by an array of accompaniments, from layered backing
singing to synths and samples. Typhoons is an exercise in propulsive
dance rock, and – while it is still a progression (rather than complete
diversion) from where they were – Royal Blood now share more DNA with Bloc
Party than with The Black Keys. Highlights are the future-blues of
‘Hold On’, delicate piano closer ‘All We Have is Now’ (where did that
come from?) and the sing-along joyride of the title track. It’s another
consistently excellent, and commendably different, record. A clear bid for
longevity, I wonder what’s next.