Regular readers of these reviews will have noticed a pattern: some guitar band receives a poor review from me and shoots straight to number one. So I worry for Royal Blood, who would seem to fit into this pattern but whose third album, Typhoons, is not bad.
Stocked with raucous songs and a sense of not taking themselves too seriously, it is something like a grown-up nu-rave record. The falsetto near-disco of “Who Needs Friends”, the insouciance of “Limbo”, the grime of “Boilermaker” – yes, there’s a formula here, but it works and, at 11 tracks, it doesn’t stick around long enough to get tired. So, enjoy hitting number eight lads, sorry for damning you.