ALBUM REVIEW: Altruistic – Royal Tusk
After bursting onto the scene in 2014 with their Mountain EP, Canadian rock trio ROYAL TUSK have gone from strength to strength. They released their debut album, DealBreaker, in 2o17 and its follow-up Tusk II the year after that, and they’ve toured with the likes of SLASH, BIG WRECK and POP EVIL, as well as being regulars on the ShipRocked Cruise. After writing throughout the pandemic, the band self-produced their third album, Altruistic, in a studio in Alberta. The process wasn’t smooth-sailing, as lead vocalist Daniel Carriere ended up in a fight to get back to full health after suffering a blood clot in his lung, but thankfully he had the support of bassist Sandy MacKinnon and guitarist Quinn Cyrankiewicz, and now the album arrives via MNRK Music Group.
Although the songs were written prior to Carriere‘s life-changing experience, their story of struggle and courage is one that takes on a whole new meaning to the band. Across ten songs, ROYAL TUSK deliver at their very best. Whether it is the 80s-esque guitar riff and Carriere‘s powerhouse vocals on opener Fire In Your Veins, the mid-tempo rock of Hated, or the heart-pumping positivity of Head Up, the common denominator is that the band sound more confident than ever.
It was also clever of them to self-produce this album because their passion bleeds through the speakers. Altruistic feels consistent and cohesive, even though each song is slightly different. For example, the synth-rock of Relegate could topple any other album over, but whilst it does slow the pacing down a bit, it also feels like a welcome break from the heavy rock of the first three songs. Furthermore, it sets up a new section of the album. Whilst All My Life does sound sonically similar to the previous song, it is clever of the band to give the album a breather before returning to the heavy rock.
Although the band do mostly stick to a formula, this actually works in their favour. As mentioned, it keeps the album consistent, and there is at least some experimentation throughout with synths. These are mostly used sparingly, which means they make more of an impact, especially on seventh track Here On Out. Breathe has a nice outro which gradually fades out, as if the listener is slowly removing their headphones, and closer Something Like The Truth is a mid-tempo number that might sound cliché due to its euphoric sound, but works well as it brings the album full circle.
Overall, ROYAL TUSK have delivered a fantastic album that is cohesive, fun and extremely well produced. Any hiccups along the way are cancelled out by the passion and dedication that the band show on this album. Scattered throughout the album are a couple of strange choices, such as starting a song with an acoustic section before launching into a rock song, but on the other hand the band stick to a formula whilst also testing out some new sounds that are used sparingly to make the most impact. Regardless of if you’re familiar with ROYAL TUSK or not, Altruistic is an album that demands to be heard.
Rating: 9/10
Altruistic is set for release on February 23rd via MNRK Heavy.
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