Royal Blood’s long awaited third album ‘Typhoons’ came out today. Musicians, clearly inspired by dancefloor artists like Daft Punk or Cassius, added more melody to their usual solid rock formula. There’s a reason behind it. The band shared some thoughts about the release on their twitter: “Over two years ago I decided to sort my life out and get completely sober. My life had become unmanageable. Had I not done this, this album would not exist along with lots of other things I dread to think about”. Adding: “I came out of the dark and into the light and this is exactly what this album represents. No matter how bad the storm, all things must pass”.
It’s with a great sense of pride and joy we can officially say our third studio album Typhoons is out now!! https://t.co/3ZvQSw7zg0 pic.twitter.com/HnZHjA3PwS
— Royal Blood (@royalblooduk) April 30, 2021
It received four stars from NME saying that the band: “certainly pimped their ride with a tweaked engine, some sick racing stripes and a sexy leopard-print interior”. ‘Typhoos’ is less dark than the other two releases ‘Royal Blood’ from 2014 and ‘How Did We Get So Dark’ from 2017. Evening Standard added in their four star review: “The only things that are still dark are the words(…) Listeners may not notice, however. They’ll be too busy dancing”.
At the end of the last tour Royal Blood’s frontman Mike Kerr went clean, quitting drugs and alcohol. He said in an interview: “Instead of destroying the bass, I was basically destroying myself. I got to a point in my life where I had to change my life and reorganise everything. Part of getting fucked up and exhibiting that is also a way of asking for help; you almost want someone to catch you being in a state. The darkest thing is that you can get away with insane shit and it can go unnoticed”. He added: “Sobriety was something I knew I had to do in order to make this record. This album or this band wouldn’t exist if I hadn’t have done this. It was all quite scary.”
Over two years ago I decided to sort my life out and get completely sober. My life had become unmanageable. Had I not done this, this album would not exist along with lots of other things I dread to think about.
— Royal Blood (@royalblooduk) April 30, 2021
Meanwhile, Royal Blood told BBC about meeting up with their Tribute Band ‘Royal Monster’ back in 2018. They went to see the cover band in Brighton: “It was very surreal, but it was also an interesting experience because I guess that’s the closest we can really come to knowing what it’s like to watch a Royal Blood gig”. Kerr added: “I took inspiration from it because I realised there were all these styles and atmospheres and moments in our set that were missing. If there’s anything that inspires my songwriting it’s the idea of a setlist, and our new album, I feel, fills a lot of those voids that were in our set before”.
Royal Blood’s ‘Typhoons‘ is out now via Warner and can be ordered here.
