And thus, Typhoons rings as the most obvious pivot imaginable, where the tighter, more glaringly contemporary grooves have wormed their way in for Royal Blood to take a stab at being ‘trendy’. They were part of the Britrock furniture, likely being able to lock in big tours and festival appearances on residual momentum, but never being able to capitalise on it in as meaningful a way. When How Did We Get So Dark? failed to light anything close to the same fire under anyone by just going through the same formula, that felt like a clear, set-in-stone moment when public opinion on Royal Blood went from adulation to nonplussed acknowledgement.
The singles from that album still remain generally agreeable, as a meatier, groove-driven version of in-vogue 2010s garage-rock, but the overall downturn has been on the cards for a while now. Carrying themselves like the biggest and best band in the world at their height was all well and good, but it’s also worth remembering that their hugely acclaimed debut came at a lucrative time for power-duos, where Royal Blood’s bass-and-drums setup was enough to eke out a place just forward of the pack. There’s always been an inevitability surrounding Royal Blood and how their rise wasn’t to last.