By: Mark Ambrose
Album Type: Full Length
Date
Released:
07/04/2017
Label: Spinefarm
Records
“Wick” is often an exercise in
balancing the spare and the expansive; the pop rock chops with the proggy bona
fides. In a world where modern rock
radio wasn’t total garbage, “We Slipped” would be a bona fide hit, providing
one of the strongest refrains Royal Thunder has written to date.
“Wick”
CD//DD//LP track listing
1.
Burning Tree
2.
April Showers
3.
Tied
4.
We Slipped
5.
The Sinking Chair
6.
Plans
7.
Anchor
8.
Wick
9.
Push
10.
Turnaround
11.
The Well
12.
We Never Fell Asleep
The Review
Royal
Thunder
has the best and most repeated story in rock since the heyday of Fleetwood Mac:
marriage, addiction, cult, recovery, divorce, escaping said cult. With lesser bands, the hype would outshine
the music; thankfully, Royal Thunder may finally be outrunning their
strange back story with their first album for Spinefarm Records and their
third full-length overall: “Wick”. From the first note, “Burning Tree” evokes the psychedelic hard rock of mid-career Led Zeppelin
or, more recently, alternative metal godfathers like Jane’s Addiction and Soundgarden. The open-tuned, chiming riffs provide
grounding for Mlny’s multitracked, spook and exhilarating vocals. “April
Showers”, with its sinister, pounding builds and cathartic choruses
highlights the Fleetwood
Mac comparisons, though Parsonz usually has a bit more heft to her
vocals than Stevie Nicks. “Tied” starts in a similar Eastern
groove before breaking into a proto-metal swing that Royal Thunder could stand to
lean into a bit more. I imagine with the
space of a live setting these Bill Ward indebted moments blossom into full on
heavy psych freakouts. But “Wick” is often an exercise in balancing
the spare and the expansive; the pop rock chops with the proggy bona
fides. In a world where modern rock
radio wasn’t total garbage, “We Slipped”
would be a bona fide hit, providing one of the strongest refrains Royal Thunder
has written to date.
Like
their previous output for Relapse Records, Mlny’s vocals are the main
attraction throughout, and the spare balladry of “Plans” highlights her undeniable talents: she can be unbearably
anguished and tuneful at once. The Janis
Joplin comparisons are merited, especially when the soulful roots shine through
the grungier elements. And while Royal Thunder
may insist that they’ve excised their cult nightmares on their previous albums,
lyrics like “There goes my mind and all my time / you pushed me away” feel as
distinctly apt when referring to either spiritual or romantic ruptures. Which isn’t to say its all rootsy Americana
The
final two tracks feel like mission statements for this newest phase of Royal Thunder. “The
Well” shifts between spacey verses and balladic refrains, plus some of the
most impressive feats of Parsonz’s multi-octave range. The layering effect creates a sort of virtual
church chorus that lingers on a repeated phrase: “Too bad/ It breaks my heart
Maybe we should say it’s over”. Album
closer, “We Never Fell Asleep” acts
as a perfect distillation of the album as a whole, opening with those familiar,
sitar-like chords before settling into grooving, tribal drum patterns. When it all feels a little predictable, the
synths kick in for a shift into a massive outro. Finally, all the instruments drop out for an
cappella gospel closing. These
explorations into the unknown, grounded by devotional placidity, suggest that
Parsonz (and Weaver, for that matter) are managing some kind of musical
solution to their metaphysical crises.
Uprooted from their community, their religion, and their romantic
partnership, they create their own ritualized music that doesn’t rely on
charismatic chicanery but painful honesty.
While some critics have derided the “vocal processing” of the newer Royal Thunder
output, the expansiveness is kind of the point here: if Parsonz can’t be part
of an actual choir, she’ll create her own virtual ensemble line by line. This blurring of the personal and the profound
is without a doubt what elevates Royal Thunder, while the soul meets Soundgarden
style of their frontwoman is the perfect aural metaphor for their lyrical
obsessions. One can hope that with each
burst of rock catharsis, Royal Thunder continues to experiment while
remaining grounded in ethereal introspection.
“Wick” is available now
Band
info: facebook
