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Royal Thunder - CVI review




Bandcamp music player
Reviewer:
8.9

111 users:
8.23
Band: Royal Thunder
Album: CVI
Release date: May 2012


01. Parsonz Curse
02. Whispering World
03. Shake And Shift
04. No Good
05. Blue
06. Sleeping Witch
07. South Of Somewhere
08. Drown
09. Minus
10. Black Water Vision

Is this abrasive...Or accessible? Jesus Christ, this album is such a great balance of the dirty, grittiness of southern rock influenced stoner metal meets classic prog rock. It's psychedelic, yet unbelievably easy on the ears, and easier on the brain.

It's like a Steve Miller lovin' Savannah, Georgia stoner metal riff fest. Only, take some of that dis-harmonic monolithic post rock guitar work found in Neurosis and throw it into the mix. It's rough edged, a bit spacey and catchy as all hell. Now, everything is just groovin' along perfectly, you're thinking to yourself "Well, shit, I might just have to go ahead and spend my crack rainy-day money on this!"

You might be a little sold, maybe a bit on the fence, then the 15 second mark kicks in, and it's game over, man, game over.

It's this wailing - it completely runs away with the whole album! Mlny Parsonz sings somewhere along the lines of Graveyard's Joakim Nilsson and Wolf's Viper Stalvind. Only, she leaves both of them sounding like that mumbling pencil-moustached guy who works at Radio Shack. The riffs are good, but the vocals are what makes this an album to not miss. These vocals are so good, if I could afford a second pair of underwear, they'd be reserved for the day Royal Thunder comes to town and needs someone to throw panties boxer briefs at the stage.

That's the first half of the album, though. The later half drifts further into the more ambient psychedelic spaciness. It's not bad, in fact, it's still pretty damn solid, it's just that after bouncing along to rolling stoner-classic rock tracks like "No Good" and "Whispering World", trying to tone things down just seems a bit anticlimactic.

A solid listen from top to bottom. Maybe the schizophrenic nature of Part A vs Part B does sully things a bit, but each song taken at face value makes CVI and album to not pass on.





Written on 17.05.2012 by Former EIC. Now just a reviewer guy.


Comments

Comments: 19   Visited by: 330 users
17.05.2012 - 14:02
Nosurper
Stinky Lips
Available for streaming: http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/av/2012/05/album-stream-royal-thunder---cvi.html

Will be purchasing day of release
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17.05.2012 - 14:03
Nosurper
Stinky Lips
Good Aliens reference
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18.05.2012 - 21:41
Unhealer
Eclecticist
Their debut was excellent, this one should be as well. Let's see.
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18.05.2012 - 21:45
theFIST

Boring
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http://metalstormmusicianscorner.bandcamp.com
Written by Warman on 07.11.2007 at 22:39
Haha, that's like saying "compose your own Metal album and upload it here, instead of writing a review of an album". :lol:
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18.05.2012 - 23:26
Rating: 9
Draugen

I have listened to their debut at Bandcamp a couple of times and was positively surprised by how good it was so I will without a doubt get this in a near future.
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19.05.2012 - 13:57
malaikat

Listened to 2 songs on Youtube, and boy, those were best two songs I've heard in 2012. Trully a Jefferson Airplane v2.0, this band is godly.
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20.05.2012 - 00:36
JD
Account deleted
This is good.
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21.05.2012 - 23:19
Spirit Molecule
spirit molecule
Definitely a great find by Relapse
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If you never wake up from a dream does it become reality?

Last fm
Don't click here
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07.06.2012 - 22:04
Rating: 9
strade

Truly a bitching album. This might be new favorite female vocalist in rock/metal. Insanely great stuff.
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My lo-fi synth project: http://luciddreamer.bandcamp.com
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08.06.2012 - 11:11
Spirit Molecule
spirit molecule
Written by strade on 07.06.2012 at 22:04

Truly a bitching album. This might be new favorite female vocalist in rock/metal. Insanely great stuff.

Parson's Curse alright
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If you never wake up from a dream does it become reality?

Last fm
Don't click here
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19.06.2012 - 14:17
Spirit Molecule
spirit molecule
This has become one on my favourites this year. I think I'm in love with miss Parson
----
If you never wake up from a dream does it become reality?

Last fm
Don't click here
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10.07.2012 - 05:30
BlueMobius
Account deleted
Written by Spirit Molecule on 19.06.2012 at 14:17

This has become one on my favourites this year. I think I'm in love with miss Parson


Yeah, this was a nice surprise. There is just so much I like about this album.
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07.10.2012 - 13:36
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Good but nothing special, same applies for the vocals, which could use a lot more power to them
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Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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25.11.2012 - 14:04
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Nice review. This is sounding quite excellent, and almost one of those records I let slip by this year.
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26.11.2012 - 04:04
Rating: 9
Susan
Smeghead
Great review, Luke! Spot on. I'm on the side that doesn't find the 2nd half any worse than the first. It slows down a bit but it's a nice journey.

One of my albums of the year. Dear. Lord.
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"A life all mine
Is what I choose
At the end of my days"
--The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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26.11.2012 - 04:47
Rating: 9
Doc G.
Full Grown Hoser
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 07.10.2012 at 13:36

same applies for the vocals, which could use a lot more power to them

You sure you're thinking of the right band here?
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"I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck."
- George Carlin
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26.11.2012 - 07:04
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Written by Doc G. on 26.11.2012 at 04:47

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 07.10.2012 at 13:36

same applies for the vocals, which could use a lot more power to them

You sure you're thinking of the right band here?




yes I am sure
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Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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19.01.2013 - 07:52
The Galactician

I dig it bunches. Thanks for the pointer!
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08.05.2013 - 07:17
Rating: 8
Diverge

I can't believe I let this one slip by this year. A great album, accompanied by a good review!
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