Typhoons (album) explained

Typhoons
Type:studio
Cover:Royal Blood - Typhoons.png
Artist:Royal Blood
Recorded:February 2019 – August 2020 in Brighton
Length:38:11
Label:Warner
Prev Title:How Did We Get So Dark?
Prev Year:2017
Next Title:Back to the Water Below
Next Year:2023

Typhoons is the third studio album by English rock duo Royal Blood, released through Warner Records on 30 April 2021. A predominantly self-produced effort, the band recorded the album throughout 2019 and 2020. The album also marks a notable shift in the band's sound, pairing their usual alternative and hard rock sound with elements of dance-rock and disco. The album was preceded by three singles—"Trouble's Coming", "Typhoons", and "Limbo"—in addition to the promotional single "Boilermaker".

Typhoons received generally favourable reviews from critics, some of whom deemed it the band's best work to date, and was a commercial success, becoming the band's third consecutive UK number one album.[1]

Recording

Royal Blood began recording the album in early 2019. Halfway through the year, they embarked on a tour consisting of intimate shows as well as appearances at festivals such as the Reading and Leeds Festivals. During this tour the band debuted the songs "Boilermaker" and "King" live. They resumed recording later that year.[2] During this time, the duo were recovering from having toured alongside Queens of the Stone Age during the Villains World Tour and promotion of How Did We Get So Dark?, with Kerr affected particularly hard by the constant partying of the tour and thus focused his efforts on becoming sober. As such, this process of sobering up also saw Kerr gain new "clarity and focus on being creative", and his thoughts surrounding this were influential on the songwriting process. The band struggled at first to find their footing with the album, though drummer Ben Thatcher identified the first single "Trouble's Coming" as the first track to click with the band. "Trouble's Coming" saw the foundation for the infusion of the disco influences that were followed up in later tracks.

Recording of the album stretched into early 2020, when it was forced to be halted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in England. Although the songwriting was mostly done, the band wrote additional songs in lockdowns - "Typhoons", "Limbo", "Mad Visions" and "Oblivion",[3] two of which lead singer Mike Kerr felt were "the two best songs on the record". "King" was ultimately cut from the main release of the album as the band didn't feel it worked on the record, as it was too reminiscent of the band's previous sound, alongside another track "Space".[4] "Space" was recorded with Kerr playing guitar as opposed to his usual bass, following on from his guitar-led contributions to Desert Sessions Vols. 11 & 12 in 2019. Both tracks however would be included on the digital deluxe version of the album. Other tunings and instrumental setups for the bass were explored during the production, with elements such as playing bass with guitar strings and different tunings used to help add additional variety to the sound.[5]

Promotion

On 24 September 2020, the band released "Trouble's Coming", the lead single from the album.[6] The video for the single was premiered on 23 October 2020,[7] and in the same month it was included as a part of the soundtracks for the EA Sports video games NHL 21[8] and FIFA 21.[9] The song went on to be a commercial success, reaching No. 8 in Scotland[10] and No. 46 in the United Kingdom.[11] On 21 January 2021, the band revealed the title of the album as Typhoons, as well as announcing its track list and release date of 30 April 2021. Additionally, they released the album's title track as a single on the same day.[12] A music video for the song was released on 28 January.[13] It reached No. 63 in the UK[11] as well as No. 2 in the country's Rock & Metal singles chart.[14] The single was also used by Codemasters and EA Sports in the trailer for the video game F1 2021. On 25 March, the band released "Limbo" as the third single from Typhoons.[15] On 13 April, "Boilermaker" was released with an accompanying music video directed by and starring Liam Lynch.

Critical reception

In a four star review for NME, Typhoons was praised as Royal Blood's "best work to date" and describes the track 'Boilermaker' as the "album's true centrepiece".[16] Gigwise held the album in similar acclaim, stating that Typhoons forges "the sound of modern masters honing their craft to reinvigorate the [rock] genre".[17] The Independent praised the band for reinventing their sound, making comparisons with Daft Punk-esque electronic flairs, and assesses that "the riffs are better, arrangements more textured, harmonies more interesting".[18] In a less positive review, DIY says that the "songs here may be more melodic, more complex even on paper, but in reality there's little there to truly grab hold of".[19]

It was elected by Loudwire as the 43rd best rock/metal album of 2021.[20]

Usage in media

Personnel

Credits adapted from the Typhoons liner notes.[21]

Royal Blood

Additional musicians

Technical

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2021)! scope="col"
Peak
position
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[22] 29

Year-end charts

Chart (2021)! scope="col"
Position
UK Albums (OCC)[23] 81

Notes and References

  1. Royal Blood Splashes at No. 1 in U.K. With 'Typhoons' . .
  2. Web site: Trendell . Andrew . 24 July 2019 . Exclusive – Royal Blood on their 2019 plans and comeback tour: "We've got some monsters up our sleeves" . 16 February 2021 . . 26 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201126133821/https://www.nme.com/music-interviews/royal-blood-2019-exclusive-interview-2019-uk-festival-tour-reading-new-album-2532050 . live .
  3. Web site: Ben Thatcher – Royal Blood 'Turning Mad Visions into Typhoons'. Wall of Sound. 27 April 2021. 5 April 2022.
  4. Web site: Royal Blood on what happened to the fan favourite track 'King'. NME. 1 May 2021. 6 May 2022.
  5. Web site: Royal Blood: The Typhoons Interview. Matt Wilkinson. 1 May 2021. Apple Music. 6 May 2022.
  6. Web site: Royal Blood tell us about 'Trouble's Coming' and their new album: "We're seeing in colour for the first time". NME. 24 September 2020. 22 January 2021. 25 January 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210125113627/https://www.nme.com/news/music/royal-blood-troubles-coming-new-third-album-mike-kerr-interview-2760808. live.
  7. Web site: 2020-10-23. Watch Royal Blood's dark and dangerous new video for 'Trouble's Coming'. 2021-02-03. NME Music, Film, TV, Gaming & Pop Culture News. en-GB. 2 February 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210202031250/https://www.nme.com/news/music/watch-royal-blood-dark-dangerous-new-video-troubles-coming-2796224. live.
  8. Web site: Noah. Steve. 2020-10-07. NHL 21 Soundtrack Revealed. 2021-02-03. Operation Sports. en-US. 7 February 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210207180447/https://www.operationsports.com/nhl-21-soundtrack-revealed/. live.
  9. Web site: FIFA 21 soundtrack: Artists, songs & music on new game, reveal date Goal.com. 2021-02-03. www.goal.com.
  10. Web site: Official Scottish Singles Chart 02 October 2020 - 08 October 2020 . 16 February 2021 . Official Charts Company.
  11. Web site: Royal Blood Full Official Chart History . 16 February 2021 . . 27 January 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210127060704/https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/7110/royal-blood/ . live .
  12. Web site: 2021-01-21. Royal Blood share swaggering new single 'Typhoons' and announce third album. 2021-01-22. NME. en-GB. 22 January 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210122001524/https://www.nme.com/news/music/royal-blood-new-single-typhoons-listen-album-2862019. live.
  13. Web site: Watch Royal Blood's towering new video for latest single Typhoons. 2021-02-01. Kerrang!. 28 January 2021 . 29 January 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210129230257/https://www.kerrang.com/the-news/watch-royal-bloods-towering-new-video-for-latest-single-typhoons/. live.
  14. Web site: Official Rock & Metal Singles Chart Top 40 Official Charts Company. 2021-02-03. www.officialcharts.com. en. 25 January 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210125212311/https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/rock-and-metal-singles-chart/. live.
  15. Web site: 2021-03-25. Listen to Royal Blood's "ambitious and wild" new single 'Limbo'. 2021-03-27. NME. en-GB. 25 March 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210325181740/https://www.nme.com/news/music/listen-to-royal-bloods-ambitious-and-wild-new-single-limbo-2907988. live.
  16. Web site: Andrew . Trendell . 29 April 2021 . Royal Blood – 'Typhoons' review: rock duo's dancefloor redemption . NME . 30 April 2021 . 29 April 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210429210403/https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/royal-blood-typhoons-review-2929678 . live .
  17. Web site: Album Review: Royal Blood - Typhoons Gigwise. 2021-04-30. www.gigwise.com. 30 April 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210430220817/https://www.gigwise.com/reviews/3398353/album-review-royal-blood-typhoons. live.
  18. Web site: O'Connor . Roisin . 29 April 2021 . Royal Blood review – Typhoons, plus Julia Stone – Sixty Summers . The Independent . 30 April 2021 . 29 April 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210429210403/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/royal-blood-review-typhoons-b1839057.html . live .
  19. Web site: Swann . Emma . 29 April 2021 . Album Review: Royal Blood - Typhoons . DIY Magazine . 30 April 2021 . 29 April 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210429122431/https://diymag.com/2021/04/29/royal-blood-typhoons-album-review . live .
  20. Web site: The 45 Best Rock + Metal Albums of 2021 . . . January 3, 2022 . December 10, 2021.
  21. Typhoons . . 2021 . booklet . . 654255.
  22. Web site: Albumit 18/2021. Musiikkituottajat. fi. 9 May 2021.
  23. Web site: End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2021. Official Charts Company. 6 January 2022.

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