Album Review: The Royal Heist - Midnight in the Garden of Evil

Kings Of Leon have long since abandoned their positions as rock's truechampions, choosing rather to sell out arenas and stadiums with their newbrand of mainstream indie-rock, the void left by the Nashville quartetthus far unfilled. On this showing, LA indie-rockers The Royal Heist areunlikely break the mould, despite a solid showing with debut album'Midnight in the Garden of Evil'.

Opener 'Lock and Load' is a grower, combining gritty vocals with evengrittier guitars whilst the chorus lodges itself in your brain long enoughto leave a lasting impression. 'Beg for More' makes up for forgettableverses with a devilish little chorus, front-man Collin Pulsipher'sextended "woahs" driving the whole thing forward. 'Anything for You' haspace and power that catapult the song through to an frantic climax,capping off an impressive start.

Too often though, we're subjected to filler material, repetitive and drabwith nothing to set it apart from other mediocre bands of their ilk.'Ghosts' fits this description well, with uninspiring lyrics set tostumbling and directionless guitars. 'Fight or Flight' too disappoints,with a confused structure that leaves you utterly bemused as to what'sgoing on, constantly changing pace, causing the song to lose rhythm anddirection.

A promising beginning, like so many albums nowadays, peters out, leaving you wondering what could have been. At their best, The Royal Heist mix The Datsuns and The Killers well, and sound like a force to be reckoned with.At their worst, they sound like so many failed indie-rock bands, now lyingforgotten in the graveyard of aspiring musicians.

2.5/5

'Midnight in the Garden of Evil' by The Royal Heist is available now.

The Royal Heist on MySpace

Liam McGarry