Released: 2023

Genres: Alternative Rock, Hard Rock, Piano Rock

The Musiquarium’s Back to the Water Below Review Score: 6 out of 10

After Typhoons saw Royal Blood add dance rock elements to their sound, Back to the Water Below sees a regression to their earlier sound, albeit with some really pedestrian piano added to the mix.

Mountains at Midnight sounds like your typical Royal Blood rocker, but isn’t quite as interesting of an opener as Out of the Black or Trouble Coming were. Tell Me When It’s Too Late recalls some of the dance influence of Typhoons, which has been completely abandoned here otherwise. There is a moment in Pull Me Through that sounds just like the chorus to Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, though it was probably unintentional. A lot of these songs have these falsetto vocal passages that sound copy and pasted from one to the other and instead of enhancing the songs, the piano here ruins most of them.

I will admit that Typhoons was a somewhat underrated record, but his album just felt uninspired — it’s not necessarily bad, just boring and dull.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view Royal Blood on Discogs.

Back to the 2023 Album Guide or the Royal Blood Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard