Grande Royale – Carry On
Release Date: 26th March 2021
Label: The Sign Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Garage Rock, Hard Rock.
FFO: Hellacopters, Backyard Babies, The Offspring.
Review By: Paul Franklin
On their last album, Take It Easy, Swedish rockers Grande Royale decided to challenge themselves and try to stand out from the crowd, adding brass, jazzy elements, and even a soul choir to their established guitar/bass/drums sound. Carry On sees them take a step back and adopt a rawer, back-to-basics approach. Eleven tracks of straight forward, energetic garage rock that wind the roots of 90’s Scandinavian rock around the foundations of 70’ Detroit rock, and polish with a vintage pop sheen.
With none of the songs (bar the last) making it far past the three-minute mark don’t expect anything too deep and meaningful. Troublemaker literally starts the album with a “Hhuuurr!”and a pacey riff, Headbanger’s Ball does exactly what it says on the tin and Ain’t Got Soul’s whole purpose is to call you out if you don’t like rock n’ roll. But that’s the whole point, you only have to watch the video for the relentlessly bouncy Bang, to see that their philosophy for this album is very much – Get in. Rock. Get out again before anyone gets bored.
The title track sprinkles a dash of piano into the basic mix, whilst Scandinavian rock stalwart Dregen (Backyard Babies, Hellacopters) adds his distinctive larynx to the aptly titled Just As Bad As You.
Recorded and produced by the band themselves, Carry On is a no-frills album packed with decent riffs, poppy harmonies and powerhouse rhythms, it’s not going to change the world, but it’s hard to dislike. In the words of vocalist Gustav Wremer “I think it ended up great. No fuzz, no muss, just rock!”
(3.5 / 5)
