Saturday 21 April 2012

ROYAL THUNDER - CVI Album Review

CVI CD

Royal Thunder is a Blues Influenced Psych Doom Metal Band from Atlanta.

The members are

MLNY PARSONZ, LEE SMITH, JOSH WEAVER, JOSH COLEMAN 

Royal Thunder incorporate Blues, Psych, Doom, Rock and Metal into their delicious dark hybrid of heavy rock music. Led by the awesome vocalist Mlny Parsonz who has the vocals of an angel at times. But when the times comes she can change her range that she is possessed by an evil spirit to spell-binding hypnotic effect.

Royal Thunder burst onto the scene in 2009 with their excellent debut EP – which was critically acclaimed by fans and critics alike. A major new talent in the world of Rock/Metal had truly arrived.

Well Royal Thunder are back with a vengeance with their much anticipated follow up – CVI. A 10 song magical and brilliant opus that runs for a mind expanding 64 minutes.

This is their proper debut full length for the mighty Relapse Records. This is one highly anticipated record by fans and critics alike. So is the praise and hype justified. Well all I can say is. Yeah it is.

The album is a monolithic slab of finely tuned Blues/Blues/Doom/Psych/Occult Rock riffs that is make a major comeback as of late.

The album starts with the majestic and haunting epic – “Parsonz Curse”. A song which Miny gets straight down to business of pouring her heart and soul out to a great creepy guitar riff playing in the background. This song sets the scene in what to expect for this amazing album.

Mlny deserves credit for singing her heart out on this song. I love the lyric “This Curse is following me”. An emotional line for what is no doubt a very personal song for Royal Thunder’s talented lead singer.

A great start to a great album. Next up is “Whispering World” which is a 4 minute blast of hard rocking blues tinged doom riffs which will get you head-banging when played live.

The vocal range of  Mlny is highly impressive. She hits the low and high notes brilliantly well. And this song is a great example of proving this why she is one of the best up and coming female singers making their mark in the world of Hard Rock/Metal.

The instrumental work is simply breathtaking all the way through. The way the band go through the many genres with apparent ease is a joy to listen to. The album is full of brilliant riffs that will have you begging for more.

Other tracks that deserve a special mention are “Blue”, “Sleeping Witch” and “Black Water Vision” which all have an equal amount of passionate riffs and haunting vocals to match.

The production as usual for a Relapse Record is simply flawless. No complaints from me. Everything is played loudly, crisply and perfectly in my mind.

People might think this album is on the softer side of Hard Rock But this is not the case. CVI has many powerful layers to it that will take time to fully decipher and understand. This is an album that deserves multiple listens to get the full picture.

This album will soon crawl under your skin. Once it has you in its grasp it’s hard to let go.

Royal Thunder prove with CVI that they are one of the best upcoming Hard Rock/Metal bands of 2012. This album will propel this band into the mainstream. It’s seriously that brilliant. This is awe-inspiring stuff that will be very hard to beat for a debut album in 2012.

Royal Thunder a brilliantly talented band. And I hope they get as much success with this album as much as possible. As I want to see these guys on the live stage. Royal Thunder are the breakout act of 2012. No question.

Brilliant and highly recommended by ourselves at Sludgelord. You can buy this album from all good stockists on Relapse Records from May 22nd 2012.

Check This Brilliant Band Below.

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