Royal Blood – Trouble’s Coming Review

After a rather mediocre self-titled debut album and a follow-up so ill-advertised I’d forgotten of its existence, Royal Blood has had a rather shaky six-year start in the music business. I don’t deny their talents, but they seem to wallow in mediocrity far too often, and it seeps onto their albums like a nauseous stain on an otherwise consistent, well-mixed piece of work. It’s a shame, but their latest single, Trouble’s Coming looks set on rectifying the issues of old, taking a completely new stance and musical style. I could’ve told you rather easily that the shift from stoner rock to glam rock was a positive choice, and it seems Royal Blood are happy to engage with this new style of confident, hopeful music-making.

Considering the contents of the lyrics, Trouble’s Coming is surprisingly upbeat and chirpy. Darker musings can be found in the writing itself, but the presentation is overtly blasé about this rather sudden change in musical direction. Upon further inspection, though, it becomes clear that whilst the sounds may have altered slightly, the lyrics are still as standard as you’d expect. Royal Blood appears to be grifting their fans with yet another test of endurance as they rattle off verses about struggling with psychosis and letting it take hold, still firmly rooted in their grim, alternative rock influences. Old habits die hard.

Still, like any old habit, it will die off eventually. Royal Blood scrape together a palatable song that far exceeds their previous works. They’ve managed to turn something that shouldn’t work all that well into a song that will, at the very least, be worth a few plays from time to time. House party cannon fodder, the sort of song that will warm a room up with its easy beat and clear lyrics, leaving even the most incoherent and drunken messes to sing along with a standard set of alternating choruses and verses. There’s nothing wrong with that, the beat provided by the drum makes up for the rather weak chorus, repeating “I hear trouble coming”, starts to wear thin on a second listen-through. It’s never a good sign when a song is tiresome after only one run-through.

Already better than their debut album in its entirety, Trouble’s Coming offers up a new side to Royal Blood, one that can mix pop music with odd snippets of glam rock and electric guitar riffs. A strange mix, a tad repetitive towards the end, but if this is a sign of things to come, then colour me impressed. There may be hope after all for Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher after all. It’s a slim line of hope, but at least some semblance of hope remains.