Spoiler alert: in a sea of relative mediocrity thus far in 2023, this might just be the album we’ve been waiting all year for. Mike and Ben have (finally) done it again; they’ve produced a proper, OG Royal Blood record that you can’t help but devour from start to finish.

While the opener and initial single from the campaign, ‘Mountains At Midnight’, and recent offering, ‘Pull Me Through’, remain absolute rompers, the good news is, they aren’t the most bewitching tracks. So the lads had saved plenty of killer tracks to reveal to our ears.

Tucked between those two, ‘Shiner In The Dark’ is a scuzzy, electro-charged belter that keeps to a steady pace throughout the verses then makes way for some classic RB oohing and chanting. Think maximum hip-shaking impact.

Meanwhile, what the pair have refined throughout their career is their ability to pack not only a punch, but bring the tempo down and showcase their more progressive, less angsty songwriting talents. So you’ll notice a mellowness to ‘The Firing Line’, as well as on their closing gambit, ‘Waves’ — the latter being a piece you could imagine used for a wrapping-up scene of a season finale. And that’s because these guys totally understand how to orchestrate an album that’s got ebbs and flows, ups and downs. You’ll even detect some more old-school, classic rock coming through — particularly on ‘There Goes My Cool’, which gives me modern-day Queen vibes by the bucketload. That could be down to the underpinning tinkling of keys.

But although there’s a lot of nuances to shout about, it’s only natural to have favourites. ‘How Many More Times’ is actually the weakest for me, simply because it doesn’t shimmer with character. Make no mistake, though; it’s no filler. It’s just that you’ve got some really epic bangers interspersed. ‘High Waters’, for one, is upbeat, wildly energetic and mosh-ready, and the brazenly heavy ‘Triggers’ is a sheer winner, topped off by some delicious drums at the start.

My ultimate champion? It wasn’t hard to choose my fighter; nicely ensconced in the middle of the record, ‘Tell Me When It’s Too Late’ bears swagger, a deftly handled solo and the sort of seductively cavalier yet grungy style that ‘Loose Change’ oozed on their ferocious debut. So it’s a no-brainer of a standout, and you can bet I’ve been rinsing the hell out of it already. Sorry, not sorry.

If you only download one track, let it be: ‘Tell Me When It’s Too Late’