Back in 2012 five youngsters got together to put in their energy and thought to what would later be known as The Royal. The Netherlands’ Melodic Metalcore outfit known for their tremendous stage presence are out with their second album, Seven, which was released in March 2017 on the Long Branch records. The band lists August Burns Red, While She Sleeps, Northlane and Parkway Drive as some of their influences.
They released “Origins” EP in 2012 and their first single “Blind Eye” in 2013. This was followed by their first full-length “Dreamcatchers” in 2014. The band fuses metal, groove and melody to form a distinctive blend of Metalcore. The band made headways in the past while playing support shows for acts like Architects and Breakdown Of Sanity and gained attention at festivals like Jera On Air and Impericon Festival. With 11 songs in their arsenal and 47 minutes of runtime, I got straight listening to the album.
The album opens up with “Thunder”, which echos your living room with a touch of reverb and blasts right in with chugging guitars and guttural screams. The song maintains an upbeat rhythm with blast beats kicking throughout the song. As the song progresses it onboards shards of heaviness engulfed in melody, which would definitely captivate your interest. Moving on to, “Feeding Wolves”, the band puts out a complete different style with a very catchy guitar riff which eventually progresses to what becomes the main guitar riff for the song. The transition is flawless and impeccable, the song moves from point A to B with so many progressions that it becomes hard to keep a track of a definite strong structure. This definitely makes the album very interesting.
“Wildmind” has really good lyrics and is nothing short of power which runs throughout the song. “Creeds And The Vultures” sounds very technical from the start, be it for the elements of Djent, plenty of guitar layers, or the perpetual guitar solo riffs at the backdrop, which makes this song’s arrangement very complex. The song writing touches new heights when acoustic elements are brought in the song and the outcome is hypnotic.
“Counterculture” shifts the mood temporarily with beautiful keys at the intro. There is an official “Interlude” in the album, and begins with such atmospheric elements, that it feels nothing short of a movie score. “Seven” The self-titled track has a pretty funky start on the high-notes on bass which is caught up quickly with the heavy chugging guitars. The band interestingly brings together melody with a catchy guitar riff, which although sounds very different but fits perfectly in this magnificent song. The amounts of energy flowing throughout this album is nothing short of watching them live in a concert.
Next up we have, “Life breaker”, which resonates with a beautiful guitar melody before moving to the realms of Metalcore. There is so much power packed in the guitar chugs which is reinforced by the maddening thrashing of the drums that it makes you jump with adrenaline. Another powerful song in their arsenal is “Thalassa”, and as I progress with the album I definitely hear progressive song structures which truly defines the genre this band fits in. Calling them a Metalcore outfit wouldn’t suffice.
“Draining Veins” starts off with a beautiful melody which is then layered on with heavy guitars. This song has odd time signatures and plenty of breakdowns, and the guitar solos fits well to the theme of song. “Vridian” opens up with a haunting clean guitar intro, the bass joins in eventually to be followed by marching drums. The song takes a roller coaster dip as distortion is set on and hence comes a rush of emotions with it. The song has pretty interesting arrangement, tightly coupled with blast beats and high pitched screams. The interlude takes us back to the start and acts as a refresher before the upcoming mosh pit.
Production : The sound on this album is crisp with ambient elements and is a power house of riffs. The progressive strong structure makes me want to add Progressive Metalcore to their genre.
Conclusion : If the band tours your city, make sure you get to see them, for they showered great energy on the album, I can’t imagine how tremendous would they be live. For the Album, I recommend you buy it!
Rating: 8.5/10
Written by: Ankit Sood
Tracklist:
01. Thunder
02. Feeding Wolves
03. Wildmind
04. Creeds And The Vultures
05. Counterculture
06. Interlude
07. Seven
08. Life Breaker
09. Thalassa
10. Draining Veins
11. Viridian
Band members
Semuel Pisarahu – Vocals
JD Liefting – Guitar
Pim Wesselink – Guitar
Loet Brinkmans – Bass
Tom Van Ekerschot – Drums
Albums:
“Dreamcatchers” (2014) [review]
Record Label: Long Branch Records, March 2017
Weblinks: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Bandcamp
Video for ‘Counterculture’
Video for ‘Wildmind’
Video (audio) for ‘Seven’