After two years away from the spotlight, Royal Blood makes its big comeback with the announcement of its fifth studio album, Dead Company, slated for November 13 via Warner. To accompany the announcement, the British duo also unveils the heavy and impactful “Ten Over Ten,” which marks an unapologetic return to the raw energy of their early days!
Three years after Back To The Water Below, Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher used this long hiatus to take a step back after a decade spent releasing albums and touring. Their last appearance dated to August 2024, at the Pukkelpop festival in Belgium. After the anniversary tour celebrating ten years of their debut album, the two musicians deliberately put the Royal Blood machine on hold to reclaim a more normal life in Brighton and to spend time with their loved ones.
“That was the first time we could simply stop and be Mike and Ben, living in Brighton,” explains Ben Thatcher. A pause that ultimately only strengthened their desire to hit the road again quickly. By January 2025, Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher described themselves as “two raging bulls, ready to set off again.”
It was in a rehearsal space set up in Brighton, far from traditional studios, that Dead Company began to take shape. The band favored a much more direct and instinctive approach, based on exchanges between the two musicians rather than on overly sophisticated production: “We simply came back with a completely new energy to make music again,” Kerr explains.
The first track written for the album, “Swallow The Bomb,” immediately set the tone. Fast and heavy, it allowed the duo to rediscover a facet of their identity that they had somewhat neglected in recent years. “Ten Over Ten,” the first officially released single, follows in the same direction with massive riffs and a particularly muscular rhythm.
“I thought it would be really cool to make it a song because it was so heavy. It reminded me almost of Motörhead,” confides Mike Kerr. The track also epitomizes the mindset that accompanied the sessions: give it your all, with no plan B, and let the music guide the writing.
This return-to-basics comes after two albums with differing directions. Whereas Typhoons in 2021 explored danceable and electronic textures, and Back To The Water Below took a broader approach, Dead Company seems to aim at reconnecting with the direct power of Royal Blood’s early work. The band, however, emphasizes the experience gained since their beginnings and says they wanted to channel a decade of practice into music that is more instinctive.
“When we started, we were truly inexperienced and learning in real time. After having the chance to do this for more than ten years, we’ve learned a lot. What was really exciting about this new record was simply returning to heavy music and feeling that we were really equipped to know how to make it,” Kerr explains.
Designed from its inception to be played live, Dead Company thus tends to prioritize impact and intensity. The duo says they wanted to maintain a constant tension throughout the album: “We decided mid-way that the record should not let the tension drop. We wanted it to be relentless,” Kerr notes.
This new direction sits within a particularly rich trajectory for Royal Blood. Since their self-titled debut in 2014, the duo has established themselves as one of the leading British rock acts, racking up number-one albums in the UK, selling out large venues, and playing international festivals. Their anniversary tour had notably allowed them to revisit their beginnings by performing their first album in its entirety.
This experience also gave the two musicians the chance to measure the distance traveled: “There was something very introspective about that anniversary tour,” Kerr explains. “We were playing songs I hadn’t played in a long time, but it was a good opportunity for us and for the fans to reconnect with that era and to gauge the distance we had traveled.”
With Dead Company, Royal Blood is thus not merely trying to pick up where they left off. The group intends to regain the instinct, spontaneity, and physical power that contributed to their breakout, while drawing on more than ten years of experience: “After putting the engine of Royal Blood into idle for a few years, we’ve upped the tempo and we play faster and louder than ever on this album,” the duo states.
Written and recorded with the live stage in mind, Dead Company promises a Royal Blood that is especially direct and unleashed: “We can’t wait to be able to perform it on stage for years,” the band assures.
