Music Review: The Royal Bear - Attack

The previous decade’s post-punk revival has gone on so long that at this point it almost seems wrong to continue calling it a revival. It’s probably not an exaggeration to say that there are bands emerging today who acquired their proclivities for urgent, bass-driven rock music more from Interpol and their followers than from pioneers like Joy Division. The Royal Bear may be one of those bands, but it’s hardly a weakness. Their debut album Attack finds them expanding on the work of their more traditional predecessors, exploring more sonically diverse territory than is generally associated with their genre.

While you may occasionally hear echoes of Josef K or Echo & the Bunnymen in The Royal Bear’s rhythms, it’s much easier to imagine them cutting their teeth on the work of Franz Ferdinand or I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness. Like those bands, The Royal Bear enlist the basic elements of post-punk in the service of creating dance music for people who like guitars. While the melodies they develop upon that foundation are generally derivative of all the bands already mentioned, they occasionally hint at greater ambitions. Scattered across the album are moments when the band seems on the verge of breaking out into a genuine rock anthem.

The interesting thing is that they appear to have the talent to actually pull that off. Vocalist Cory Rain is impressive throughout Attack, often falling into a croon that is equal parts Ian McCulloch and Brandon Flowers. Guitarist Robbie Luna shows a willingness to layer on effects that helps the band to transcend their genre a bit, though at times his leads get a little more busy than is really necessary (as on the otherwise solid closer “Become the Stars”). At any rate, it’s refreshing to hear a guitarist in this sort of band who is imaginative enough that his playing avoids the clichéd descriptor “angular.”

Attack is a fairly impressive debut that manages to stand out in a frankly overcrowded genre. Hopefully The Royal Bear won’t shy away from exploring their more grandiose side in the future, though. The world already has plenty of good, danceable post-punk bands, but truly ambitious rock groups—especially those with the talent to realize their ambitions—are much harder to come by.