How Did We Get So Dark?
by Royal Blood
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 102 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 77 out of 102
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 102
  3. Negative: 6 out of 102
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  1. Balrogking10ten
    Jul 8, 2017
    1
    I grew up listening to metal in its classic heyday and watched it evolve into what we call alt-metal today. And I know the best bands of that genre will never be considered the “lesser sons of greater sires”. But the fact is that Royal Blood proves that true metal may no longer have any relevance. I chose to try to catch up with the current trends when, very recently, I saw this duo on aI grew up listening to metal in its classic heyday and watched it evolve into what we call alt-metal today. And I know the best bands of that genre will never be considered the “lesser sons of greater sires”. But the fact is that Royal Blood proves that true metal may no longer have any relevance. I chose to try to catch up with the current trends when, very recently, I saw this duo on a British live concert cable show; they rocked the crap out of the program and I dug the variation on the 2-man group but with no true guitarist this time. They played “Little Monster” from their debut and it really stuck in my mind. I googled them and read some of their reviews; they were considered the new “it” band in metal. And I saw that their sophomore CD was about to drop. Since together, their total length was about 67 minutes, I bought both. And the promising start to their self-titled initial release (“Out of the Black” is an engaging and unique first track for any album) gave me confidence that metal might be back. Wow, was I wrong! These guys are way overrated and overhyped. I think the duo thing has a lot to do with it. But that band configuration (besides the pedestrian songwriting, inane lyrics, simplistic 80s hairband-like melodies, derivative vocals, etc.) is their biggest weakness. There is a limit to how many songs that contain no real chords a discerning listener can take; you might as well call it “no-chord rock” instead of “3-chord rock”. It gets old really, really fast! And the fact that there is a lot of double and triple tracking that can never be reproduced live by 2 guys is also a travesty. All the songs on both these 2 releases are interchangeable and they are almost all huge disappointments. When you think about the recent crop of new bands and more recent releases in the category of old school and alternative metal, compare them to bands like Tool, SOAD, Deftones, the Melvins, etc.; more recently, Mastodon and…..uh, that’s it. Maybe I have just outgrown old school metal; I still enjoy some of the newer what you could call “hard rock” bands/artists like Black Mountain, Ty Segal, Silversun Pickups, Band of Skulls, Savages, etc. As someone who thought he would never utter such heresy, I hate to say that it might be time to sound the death knell for this genre. It makes this dude feel very, very sad (& very, very old).… Expand
  2. YT_Guyyy
    Aug 26, 2017
    2
    It's more meh QOTSA worship from rock's biggest mediocrity factory. Once you've heard the first or second song, you should stop there, because it doesn't get any better. It just gets more repetitive.

    I guess Lights Out is pretty decent.

Awards & Rankings

56
#56 Most Discussed Album of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
71

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
  1. Austin Chronicle
    Oct 5, 2017
    67
    The title track won't drag big rock forward, but How Did We Get So Dark? will definitely scratch a riff-loving itch.
    Read full review
  2. Kerrang!
    Jul 26, 2017
    80
    At some point, a little experimenting may be needed, but for now this cements their status as the behemoths of British rock. [17 Jul 2017, p.50]
  3. Clash Music
    Jul 19, 2017
    80
    HDWGSD is so DTF it's practically humping the furniture, making it one of the most genuine works of rock 'n' roll since Elvis weaponised his pelvis.
    Read full review
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