Royal Blood: Royal Blood [BLACK MAMMOTH/WARNER]

Why you'll love it

This pressing comes with a download card for the full album. The record debuted at No. 1 in the UK as the fastest-selling British rock debut in three years, earned a Mercury Prize nomination and helped the duo win Best British Group at the 2015 Brits.

This edition

• Download card included
• Stereo mix

About the album

Two people, no guitarist, and a sound like a four-piece falling down a staircase. Mike Kerr (bass and vocals) and Ben Thatcher (drums) formed Royal Blood in Brighton in 2011, after Kerr came home from nine months in Australia with a head full of songs and a bass sound he wanted to try. He met Thatcher at the airport, they rehearsed the next day, and played for friends in a local bar soon after. Within two years the BBC had them on its Sound of 2014 longlist, and the pair had barely made a record yet.

With producer Tom Dalgety, they kept the recording strict: Kerr's voice and bass, Thatcher's kit, a shaker or tambourine here and there, no samples and no overdubs, with most songs captured in one take. "Out of the Black" and "Come On Over" got them on the radio in 2013, "Figure It Out" and "Little Monster" became festival staples, and "Blood Hands" turned up in the film Insurgent.

Early buzz got a helping hand when Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders wore a Royal Blood T-shirt on stage at Glastonbury, which counts as one of the more cost-effective marketing campaigns in British history.

Also at Kops: more Royal Blood on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Black Mammoth / Warner Records, a reissue of the 2014 album.