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Typhoons (album)

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Typhoons
Studio album by
Released30 April 2021 (2021-04-30)
RecordedFebruary 2019 – August 2020 in Brighton
Genre
Length38:11
LabelWarner
Producer
Royal Blood chronology
How Did We Get So Dark?
(2017)
Typhoons
(2021)
Back to the Water Below
(2023)
Singles from Typhoons
  1. "Trouble's Coming"
    Released: 24 September 2020
  2. "Typhoons"
    Released: 21 January 2021
  3. "Limbo"
    Released: 25 March 2021

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

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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.[3]

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".[4] "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".[5] "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.[6]

Promotion

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On 24 September 2020, the band released "Trouble's Coming", the lead single from the album.[4] 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

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic77/100[16]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[17]
Clash7/10[18]
Classic Rock[19]
DIY[20]
The Independent[21]
Kerrang![22]
The Line of Best Fit8/10[23]
Mojo[24]
NME[25]
Uncut6/10[26]

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".[25] Gigwise held the album in similar acclaim, stating that Typhoons forges "the sound of modern masters honing their craft to reinvigorate the [rock] genre".[27] 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".[21] 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".[20]

It was elected by Loudwire as the 43rd best rock/metal album of 2021.[28]

Usage in media

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  • The title track, "Typhoons", is included on the soundtrack for the video game WWE 2K22.
  • The track "Trouble's Coming" is included on the soundtracks for the video games Forza Horizon 5, FIFA 21 and NHL 21. The song was also featured on the TV series The Good Doctor, where it appeared in the season 6 episode “Broken or Not”.
  • The track “Oblivion” is included in the soundtrack for the video game MLB The Show 21.

Track listing

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All lyrics are written by Mike Kerr; all music is composed by Royal Blood, except where noted

No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Trouble's Coming"  3:48
2."Oblivion"  2:41
3."Typhoons"  3:56
4."Who Needs Friends"
  • Mike Kerr
  • Joe Keogh
 3:10
5."Million and One"  4:18
6."Limbo"  4:53
7."Either You Want It"  3:00
8."Boilermaker" 
  • Royal Blood
  • Tom Hill
3:29
9."Mad Visions"  3:09
10."Hold On"  3:14
11."All We Have Is Now" Mike Kerr2:33
Total length:38:11
Japanese edition bonus track[29][30]
No.TitleLength
12."Space"4:04
Total length:42:22
Deluxe digital edition
No.TitleLength
12."Space"4:04
13."King"3:24
Total length:45:39

Personnel

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Credits adapted from the Typhoons liner notes.[31]

Royal Blood

  • Mike Kerr – bass, keyboards, vocals, backing vocals, clavinet, therevox
  • Ben Thatcher – drums, percussion

Additional musicians

  • Bobbie Gordon – backing vocals (1–2, 4, 9)
  • Jodie Scantlebury – backing vocals (2, 4, 9)

Technical

  • Royal Blood – production (1–3, 5–7, 9–11)
  • Paul Epworth – additional production (1), production (4)
  • Riley Macintyre – engineering (1, 4, 11), vocal production (5), mixing (11)
  • Pete Hutchings – engineering (1, 2, 9), mixing (2, 9, 12–13)
  • Matt Wiggins – additional engineering (1), engineering (3, 5–7, 10)
  • Claude Vause – engineering assistance (1, 7, 10)
  • Marcus Locock – engineering assistance (1, 3, 6–7, 10)
  • Matty Green – mixing (1, 3–8, 10)
  • Luke Pickering – engineering assistance (4, 5, 11)
  • Josh Homme – production (8, 12–13)
  • Mark Rankin – engineering (8, 12–13)
  • Justin Smith – engineering assistance (8, 12–13)
  • Joe LaPortamastering

Charts

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Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[57] Silver 60,000

Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Notes

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  1. ^ Tracks 1–3, 5–7, 10, and 11
  2. ^ Tracks 8, 12, and 13
  3. ^ Tracks 1 and 4

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Royal Blood Splashes at No. 1 in U.K. With 'Typhoons'". Billboard.
  2. ^ Trendell, Andrew (24 July 2019). "Exclusive – Royal Blood on their 2019 plans and comeback tour: "We've got some monsters up our sleeves"". NME. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Ben Thatcher – Royal Blood 'Turning Mad Visions into Typhoons'". Wall of Sound. 27 April 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  4. ^ a b "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. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  5. ^ "Royal Blood on what happened to the fan favourite track 'King'". NME. 1 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  6. ^ Matt Wilkinson (1 May 2021). "Royal Blood: The Typhoons Interview". Apple Music. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  7. ^ "Watch Royal Blood's dark and dangerous new video for 'Trouble's Coming'". NME | Music, Film, TV, Gaming & Pop Culture News. 23 October 2020. Archived from the original on 2 February 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  8. ^ Noah, Steve (7 October 2020). "NHL 21 Soundtrack Revealed". Operation Sports. Archived from the original on 7 February 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  9. ^ "FIFA 21 soundtrack: Artists, songs & music on new game, reveal date | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  10. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Chart | 02 October 2020 - 08 October 2020". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  11. ^ a b "Royal Blood | Full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  12. ^ "Royal Blood share swaggering new single 'Typhoons' and announce third album". NME. 21 January 2021. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  13. ^ "Watch Royal Blood's towering new video for latest single Typhoons". Kerrang!. 28 January 2021. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  14. ^ "Official Rock & Metal Singles Chart Top 40 | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  15. ^ "Listen to Royal Blood's "ambitious and wild" new single 'Limbo'". NME. 25 March 2021. Archived from the original on 25 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  16. ^ "Typhoons by Royal Blood". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2 May 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  17. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Typhoons - Royal Blood". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  18. ^ "Royal Blood - Typhoons". Clash. 30 April 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  19. ^ Beaumont, Mark (30 April 2021). "Royal Blood find disco glitter amidst darkness and paranoia on Typhoons". Classic Rock. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  20. ^ a b Swann, Emma (29 April 2021). "Album Review: Royal Blood - Typhoons". DIY Magazine. Archived from the original on 29 April 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  21. ^ a b O'Connor, Roisin (29 April 2021). "Royal Blood review – Typhoons, plus Julia Stone – Sixty Summers". The Independent. Archived from the original on 29 April 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  22. ^ Ruskell, Nick (30 April 2021). "Album review: Royal Blood – Typhoons". Kerrang!. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  23. ^ Kelly, Tyler Damara (29 April 2021). "Typhoons is thunderous rock duo Royal Blood reckoning with change and winning". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  24. ^ Perry, Andrew (May 2021). "Royal Blood - Typhoons". Mojo. p. 82. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  25. ^ a b Andrew, Trendell (29 April 2021). "Royal Blood – 'Typhoons' review: rock duo's dancefloor redemption". NME. Archived from the original on 29 April 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  26. ^ Scoppa, Bud (June 2021). "Royal Blood - Typhoons". p. 31. Retrieved 13 May 2021. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  27. ^ "Album Review: Royal Blood - Typhoons | Gigwise". www.gigwise.com. Archived from the original on 30 April 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  28. ^ "The 45 Best Rock + Metal Albums of 2021". Loudwire. Townsquare Media. 10 December 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  29. ^ "Royal Blood / ロイヤル・ブラッド「Typhoons / タイフーンズ」 | Warner Music Japan". ワーナーミュージック・ジャパン | Warner Music Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  30. ^ "CDJapan : TYPHOONS [Japan Bonus Track] Royal Blood CD Album" (in Japanese). CD Japan. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  31. ^ Typhoons (booklet). Royal Blood. Warner Records. 2021. 654255.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  32. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Royal Blood – Typhoons". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  33. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Royal Blood – Typhoons" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  34. ^ "Ultratop.be – Royal Blood – Typhoons" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  35. ^ "Ultratop.be – Royal Blood – Typhoons" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  36. ^ "Royal Blood Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  37. ^ "Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 18.Týden 2021 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  38. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Royal Blood – Typhoons" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  39. ^ "Albumit 18/2021" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  40. ^ "Top Albums (Week 18, 2021)". SNEP. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  41. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Royal Blood – Typhoons" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  42. ^ "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2021. 18. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  43. ^ "Official Irish Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  44. ^ "Italiancharts.com – Royal Blood – Typhoons". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  45. ^ "Charts.nz – Royal Blood – Typhoons". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  46. ^ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  47. ^ "Portuguesecharts.com – Royal Blood – Typhoons". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  48. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  49. ^ "Spanishcharts.com – Royal Blood – Typhoons". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  50. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Royal Blood – Typhoons". Hung Medien. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  51. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  52. ^ "Royal Blood Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  53. ^ "Royal Blood Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  54. ^ "Royal Blood Chart History (Top Hard Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  55. ^ "Royal Blood Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  56. ^ "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2021". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  57. ^ "British album certifications – Royal Blood – Typhoons". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
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