Remember last week when we featured Belfast band Rotten Royalty as our #NIMusic Tune for the Weekend? Well lucky enough for you, we have some more music from this psychedelic punk and blues tinged garage rock trio.
Barely a year old, Rotten Royalty have achieved quite a lot in their short time as a band, and the home-recorded At The Door EP is a testament to just how far these guys can go. At five songs long, this is a mammoth introduction to the world of Rotten Royalty, but we were more than excited to go along for the ride.
To say that opening track, Teenage Confusion has a slow intro is an understatement, over a minute into the track and I’ve already re-started the song three times to make sure my speakers aren’t broken, but finally the ghostly resonance gives way to grungy guitar and lead singer Sam Morgan’s audacious vocals have kicked in. To me this song wouldn’t sound out of place on the soundtrack to a Tony Hawk’s game (is that an outdated reference these days?), and I think it’s a great opening track overall.
Next up, my favourite track, and the subject of last week’s #NIMusic Tune for the Weekend: Heavy Heart Woman. Just over three minutes of good old rock and roll; the drums are manic, the guitar is punchy and Morgan’s voice is just perfect for this style of song: full of attitude, yet with just the right degree of confident charm. Whiskey By The Bottle is another favourite with its funky intro and plenty of groove throughout. There’s even some sax in this one which just adds a thick layer of sexiness to this already seductively catchy track.
Penultimate tune Public Animal is a raucous fire-cracker of a song, with another soft intro giving way to a white-hot blaze of noise. Thrashy, rocky and dirty, this sleazy track is over before it even starts. I could definitely see this track being a crowd pleaser at live gigs.
A slight change of pace is evident in the final Stone Cold, which sees a departure from the funkiness of previous tracks and is all about the acoustic. Where Morgan’s unique gruffness excelled in previous tracks, I think this slower, more soulful style of singing is a struggle at parts, but it’s nice to hear a softer side to this powerhouse of noise. At 8 minutes long, the final track of the At The Door EP seems like a struggle at times, but each time your concentration starts to wane, the band introduce another element of interest, your focus moves effortlessly from keys to a celestial atmosphere and before you know it the full band is back again, as are Morgan’s spunky vocals, before the track winds down. The overall result is an ethereal and haunting track that sounds more like four or five separate songs strung together to tell a cohesive story.
As a debut EP, this is one of the most enjoyable I’ve heard from a local band in a long time. The trio obviously know their instruments well and are enjoying experimenting with the genres they love. From hard hitting rock and roll to eerie ethereality Rotten Royalty excel at it all, and I can’t wait to hear more from this young band.
If, like me you want more, you can help the band produce their debut album by visiting their GoFundMe page here. Follow them on Facebook or listen to them on BandCamp.
