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Released on April 3, 2015 via Relapse Records
Royal Thunder’s widely acclaimed debut album, CVI, was what made them well known. Before that they had released a promising self-recorded EP back in 2009. Their soulful, bluesy and southern blend and, of course, Mlny Parsonz’s voice was what caught everyone’s attention. CVI sounded like a band that had been playing together for ages, even though it was a debut album. It was already mature and showed an incredible sense of musicianship.
This time around, the foursome from Atlanta decided to depart a bit from their debut, but without compromising their trademark sound. A sophomore album is always a difficult moment in a band’s career but Royal Thunder have knocked it out of the park.
The thing that strikes us from the first track ‘Time Machine’ is Mlny Parsonz’s fantastic voice, which completely stands out from everything else and takes things to a whole new level. However, she’s not alone. She’s in fact surrounded by some of the best musicians in rock at the moment.
Crooked Doors is much more straightforward classic rock than its predecessor. We do still feel the bluesy, 70s vibe and the songs are catchier but fortunately without entering the “radio rock” territory.
Tracks like ‘Forgive Me Karma’ or ‘One Day’ are the perfect examples of the bluesy and slow paced songs they can so brilliantly pull off and they are contrasted with the more upbeat and classic rock songs like ‘Floor’, which is one of the highlights here.
What we can conclude is that their sound is even more refined. They have become much more direct and have grown immensely as musicians. The term “all killer, no filler” can be applied perfectly upon several listens. You just want to keep coming back for more.
So far 2015 has been a big year for Relapse Records. Crooked Doors is a perfect example of that and we have also heard great releases by Torche and Minsk. We can’t forget that Baroness might be releasing something new later on this year. However, Royal Thunder are Relapse’s new crown jewels. Do they have what it takes? They sure do and I do hope they can be around and releasing such brilliant music for many years.
