God Damn - Vultures

With the ilk of Royal Blood breaking as many records as they are guitars, when it comes to the position of the chart-bothering rock monsters, that vacancy is closed. God Damn didn’t get the memo, and thank God for that.

From start to finish, ‘Vultures’ is a relentless storm of roaring rock royalty. Lead single ‘Where the Wind Blows’ growls and snarls with enough power to run the national grid. It’s the kind of glass-smashing riot of a gig that should be censored. Your Mum would forbid you from going out to it, even if you lived in your own house with a mortgage.

Sure, iTunes will automatically place them in the ‘Alternative’ category next to Royal Blood, but whether or not you’re wearing the Royal Blood tee-shirt, comparing the two is an injustice. It’s like the sorting hat placing Harry Potter in Slytherin. It’s just wrong.

They might pose as head-thrusting creatures of the stage, but don’t let that fool you. Underneath the muscles, God Damn are literate and heartfelt poets. The guitarist Thom Edward cites a quote from the Chapman Brothers: “If I could explain the art, I wouldn’t make it.” Free from the fads and the trends of the moment, God Damn are aiming just to write the songs, without bothering to think what genre it has to be. And because of that, with their debut album ‘Vultures’, they keep hitting the bull’s-eye.

On paper it might not be leading a rock revolution, but you can bet – when Royal Blood hear this – they won’t be the only ones shouting, ‘God Damn!’