Last Friday, Royal Blood released their fourth studio album, Back to the Water Below. The self-produced record contains 10 tracks, including the previously released singles “Mountains at Midnight” and “Pull Me Through.” The duo also unveiled a music video for the track “Shiner in the Dark.”
Creating the new album was a smooth process, as vocalist and bassist Mike Kerr tells NME in an interview. “When we play together, that’s all that’s required for it to be Royal Blood. If we want to go somewhere new, we just go for it,” says Kerr. The musician also added that he and drummer Ben Thatcher are “basically always in agreement. We very rarely have disagreements about the songs, and if we do, it means it’s wrong, and we move onto something else.”
Back to the Water Below feels like an extension of its predecessor, 2021’s Typhoons, although it does contain some sounds reminiscent of Royal Blood’s earliest releases. The powerful riffs and deep lyrics representative of the band are better than ever, and the album has a high energy that’s consistent in every track. Even the B-Sides, “Supermodel Avalanches” and “Everything’s Fine,” are two of the best songs Royal Blood has created.
All in all, with Back to the Water Below, the Brighton duo shows once again that they are unable to write bad songs, and every album they release will be as good as, or even better than, the previous one. You can watch the music video for “Shiner in the Dark” below and don’t forget to stream the album on your favorite platform.
If you don’t want to miss out on listening to Back to the Water Below live, Royal Blood is currently touring from September through November, and you can get tickets for their European and North American shows at their official website.
