Danish rock outfit Royal Mob have just released their debut album Cinematic via Prime Collective. Forming in 2015 under the name Mojave Desert Rebels, the quartet released their debut EP Through The Fire and gained a substantial following in their home country, before undergoing their name change and releasing their debut full-length.
Opening track Wanna Lie With You wastes no time, diving right into the deep end with a fast-paced, guitar-driven undertone. Stuttering guitar lines will reach resounding highs when played live – what a good excuse to head to a Royal Mob show! Need continues to flaunt the quartet’s musical skills with lashings of riffy guitars and driving drumlines, to make up for the sadly monotone vocals from Gustav Lassen.
Latest single Snake looks set to be the turning point of the first half of the release. Lassen’s vocals seem to switch from bored and disinterested to emotive and power-driven. Lyrically a love song is unveiling as lines such as “with you in my memories, I know I’ll come home” highlight the idea of one person being there to save the day time and time again. We’re now hoping the rest of the release continues in the slick manner that this track has.
Sadly as we progress through the album onto Fire it becomes difficult to differentiate between tracks. Honestly, at this point, it seems as if the same guitar lines and song structures have been jazzed up with different lyrics to trick listeners. Save You comes in attempting to save the day, which it achieves to some extent. Once again our attention is drawn to the lyrical matter, singing of the desire to save someone but being unable to and blaming yourself. Royal Mob are establishing themselves as a radio-friendly band, but now at the midway point of the release it’s going to take a lot to turn this around for good.
Title track Cinematic becomes the star of the album, thanks to its catchy guitar lines spiralling round in your head. Its repetitive chorus gets underneath your skin with this storytelling track. Euphoria is anything but euphoric and sadly we’re taken back to the dull, dreary, sluggish tracks which are non-descript. Royal Mob have seemingly spread out the limited, fresh songs across the release as Like This, although lacking the punch we’d expect, is a short, sweet singalong track.
What Do You Want From Me makes us want to answer with our own list of music requirements. This nearly hits what we want from Royal Mob but it still lacks the excitement. Become has the task of closing the release in style, but it just falls short which is a running theme on the release. We love the lyrical matter of trying to become a better person for the sake of someone who isn’t around anymore, yet the execution leaves us wanting more. There’s one thing that is consistent throughout this album and that has been the lack of energy and excitement shown by the band, especially through vocals.
For a debut album Cinematic is by far not the worst, but leaves us seeking something more. The elements Royal Mob have shown throughout this album, albeit not in a single track, show promise for later releases. Yet the band need to work on bringing their music to life and show them off with pride, rather than it seeming like a chore to record. We’ll be keeping an eye on Royal Mob and we hope our review of their next album will be a little more favourable.
5/10
Standout Tracks: Cinematic, Snake
For Fans Of: Don Broco, Nothing But Thieves, Royal Blood
Written by: Nicola Craig
