Royale Lynn is a solo artist and the thing about art, real art, is that only the artist knows what they are aiming for, and what they want. The audience doesn’t know what to expect. Music is art, but it’s not pure art. A musician has to balance their work with retaining fans. Alienate them and your career could end, so each record becomes a kind of reinvention game. Beyonce played it on ‘Cowboy Carter’ in fact, in recent years many big solo artists have been falling over themselves to get into their country rock era. Royale Lynn seems to be doing the opposite. Her breakout early release ‘Workin’ On My Country’ is literally about its distinct country-rock sound so you’d think her debut album would be in the same vein. You’d be wrong.
‘Black Magic’ embraces hard rock and metal, and it’s a good choice, though perhaps not an obvious one. The overall sound is to hard rock what Avril Lavigne is to punk. It’s the kind of pop-rock record you can happily listen to. None of it is bad, but none of it is challenging. It’s ideal if you like big, catchy songs and aren’t afraid of a little heaviness. The whole thing is solid, likable and there’s a certain something crackling through it that we’re going to call magic.
Often the artwork for solo albums prominently features the artist. Usually the aesthetic gives you a clue as to the contents and forms part of the package. Think about how Britney Spears was dressed as a school girl on her first record, but a rubber catsuit for her more mature second. Or why Poppy has gender fluid appearance on her genre-fluid releases. On the cover of ‘Black Magic’, Royale Lynn is literally leaning hard into the metal aesthetic, a clever choice.
Over time metal become increasingly mainstream, with artists completely collapsing the barrier between genres so it’s actually quite difficult to tell how heavy a typical modern audience likes it. Certainly, the songs feature breakdowns and a distinct alt-metal flavour, particularly on songs like ‘Dragon’ which features a flickering riff or the way ‘When We Die‘ uses drums and guitars to literally do its heavy lifting. You can’t help but think of Bring Me The Horizon’s forays into pop but the whole thing feels kind of like a recent Memphis May Fire record. Luckily that’s a solid, likeable sound.
The album gets off to a strong start, opening with ‘Greed’ and ‘E.V.I.L.’ two huge, chunky songs which have a pop-rock swagger and a clear sense of momentum. Similarly, the big chugging guitars and breakdowns on songs like ‘Sacrifice’ or ‘Pandora’s Box’ feel deliberate and confidently show off her command of this heavier style. However on some tracks, like ‘Black Magic‘, her voice can feel thin and electronically sharpened (reminiscent of Avril Lavigne’s most recent record) but this is more a production feature than a problem.
As a solo artist, Royale Lynn’s songs are constructed around her vocal parts which gives them a certain style and flow. It’s also means it’s not about the music, but you get the feeling it’s really not about the music. A little chugging here, the odd riff there, the whiff of synths, it sounds like a lot of mainstream metal releases, but is lacking a wow factor. This is amplified by the production sound, not because it’s bad, more because it feels workmanlike, overused or even trite. Take the drums, which sound like a drumkit but despite the booming bass and snare sound, the odd high-hat, frequently feel like a drum program and lack personality. None of these things are bad, per se but compare it to Poppy’s recent records but you can see why it feels surprisingly safe and a little indistinct. This comparison isn’t quite as unfair as you might think because on ‘WTCH’ Royale Lynn explores a similar vein; flirting with whispering, rap-metal adjacent verses and a high, snappy tone, in one of the album’s most interesting songs. While all album’s lyrics use magical imagery to discuss her mental health, it’s here that theme comes sharply into focus. By casting herself as a witch, she draws attention to herself feeling like a fraud, being falsely accused and also being a bit wicked, a neat mirror to the song’s style.
Interestingly, the song ‘Death Wish’ plays with the idea of being a misfit in numerous ways. Firstly because it features screaming, much like how Fall Out Boy or Youmeatsix would make pop-rock albums but would include a single song with screaming on to show off their hardcore credibility. Second, those screams are provided by Danny Warsnop of Asking Alexandria. This gives it a little more bite, but as his early Asking Alexandria lyrics could be flat-out misogynistic, it gives the song a slightly unsettling subtext. The song’s style adds variety to the album’s back end, is heavy enough to tease metal fans without alienating the fanbase and fits neatly with the music around it.
Indeed, the album’s final stretch is a surprising show of strength. The casual greatness of ‘Dark Mode’ contrasts its pleasingly modern lyric with references to a ‘small town’, harking back to her more country rock roots, while the easy likeability of ‘Inside Out’ gives the back end a boost of energy, leaving the soaring chorus of ‘Battleground’ to brings the album its bittersweet close.
The craft lacks a little spark but this is a bewitching pop-rock album. Royale Lynn uses ‘Black Magic’ to transform into a hard rock diva.
IAN KENWORTHY