Royal Blood [LP]

The bludgeoning opener to Royal Blood's self-titled debut, "Out of the Black" is a riff-fueled onslaught that belies their two-piece status; with just a heavily processed bass guitar and a drum set between them, they make some four-piece rock bands look inconsequential. Their bustling career started just 24 hours after drummer Ben Thatcher picked up vocalist/bassist Mike Kerr after he touched down from a trip to Australia with a show in their hometown in Brighton, and they didn't look back. In roughly a year together Royal Blood have learned quickly, and tour dates and the early support of Arctic Monkeys -- who themselves were thrust quickly into the limelight -- influenced tracks such as "Blood Hands," which has all the cocksure swagger of the Sheffield outfit. Combining crushing drums and Kerr's hybrid bass setup -- which is ingeniously split through both a bass amp and a guitar amp, with pitch-shifters, modulation, and heavy distortion bolstering the rugged sound -- the duo draws im