{"id":785,"date":"2015-04-07T08:47:55","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T13:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/culturated.com\/?p=785"},"modified":"2015-04-07T08:47:55","modified_gmt":"2015-04-07T13:47:55","slug":"royal-thunder-crooked-doors-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/royal-thunder-crooked-doors-review\/","title":{"rendered":"ROYAL THUNDER- CROOKED DOORS REVIEW"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A lot has happened in the three years since Atlanta\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/royalthunder.bandcamp.com\"><strong> Royal Thunder<\/strong><\/a> released its swampy, cryptic 2012 debut, <i>CVI. <\/i>Most significantly, bassist\/vocalist Mlny Parsonz and her husband, guitarist Josh Weaver, ended their tumultuous romantic relationship, but continued to work together in a creative capacity.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Now, with help from new members Evan Diprima on drums and Will Fiore (of Zoroaster) on guitar, they\u2019ve released a stunning new album that\u2019s earning comparisons to Fleetwood Mac\u2019s <i>Rumours<\/i>. But it&#8217;s not so much for the music as for the unflinching view it offers of the ugly aftermath of heartache.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FG40JavIue4\" width=\"650\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Crooked Doors<\/em> isn\u2019t a complete deviation from the musical path <a href=\"http:\/\/www.relapse.com\/label\/artist\/royal-thunder.html\"><strong>Royal Thunder<\/strong><\/a> established on their debut: Weaver\u2019s blues-inflected riffs, Parsonz\u2019s soulful vocals, and a production style rich with atmospheric depth remain intact.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But the emotional subject matter inexorably colors the proceedings, with sweeter melodies, more jagged edges and more deeply personal lyrics that hit like a sucker punch to the gut. Especially when you realize that she&#8217;s singing about the guy playing guitar right beside her.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/2015\/03\/05\/390980154\/royal-thunder-time-machine\"><strong>Time Machine<\/strong><\/a>,\u201d the epic 7-minute power ballad that opens the album, is a perfect case in point. \u201cI cannot go back and change one single thing,\u201d Parsonz sings as the melodic groove builds in dynamic intensity, adding an unconvincing \u201cI\u2019m looking for a way to feel, \u2018cuz I don\u2019t feel a thing\u201d before erupting into a chorus that suggests she feels too much.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/1280x720.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-786\" src=\"http:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/1280x720-1024x575.jpg\" alt=\"Royal_Thunder_Crooked_Doors_Review\" width=\"650\" height=\"365\" srcset=\"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/1280x720-1024x575.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/1280x720-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/1280x720-330x185.jpg 330w, https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/1280x720-690x387.jpg 690w, https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/1280x720-1050x590.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/1280x720-853x480.jpg 853w, https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/1280x720.jpg 1350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cForget You\u201d is a bluesy barn-burner that finds her accusing Weaver of using her up until she feels wasted, hurling words with such passion you can almost see the spittle on her mic. \u201cOne Day,\u201d the first single, pairs her conflicted croon with Weaver\u2019s aching arpeggios, and the result is almost breathtakingly beautiful in its melancholy.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGlow\u201d brings a splash of honky tonk to the Royal Thunder sound, but it\u2019s the two-part closer, \u201c The Bear,\u201d that proves most revelatory. \u201cThis is not what I want, I need to be free,\u201d Parsonz sings over a sparse backdrop that gives way to a lovely piano-and-cello lament drenched in her heartache.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an ominous end to an incredible, emotional album that begs a question: How long can these two former lovers continue to make beautiful music together without being torn apart by the memories of what they\u2019ve lost? If this is ultimately to be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RoyalThunderMusic\"><strong>Royal Thunder<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s swan song (and Parsonz swears that it isn\u2019t), the band can rest assured that they\u2019ve ended with an absolute masterpiece. \u00a0<strong><em>\u2013Bret Love<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A lot has happened in the three years since Atlanta\u2019s Royal Thunder released its swampy, cryptic 2012 debut, CVI. Most significantly, bassist\/vocalist Mlny Parsonz&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[7,12],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/royalthunder_wide-9c0d057409a7a81834ed9fb45189b3d5bccff010.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5slei-cF","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}