Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Your perceptions should be challenged daily, what you think you know, what you believe to be sacrosanct, should be questioned and subjected to scrutiny every minute of every passing day; it is the only way to hold on to your wits and your confidence in the unassuming and the courageous.
It is in those questioning of perceptions that chemistry, that the flow of groove between a group of people can thrive and become greater than the sum of their parts. Distance can make a lot of groups dissolve, become fractured and divided; not so with the fabulous Royal Southern Brotherhood, as they prove with absolute conviction and truth in their hearts, distance is only a matter of time, not desire and the desire is so great in The Royal Gospel that the music, although jammed and mulled over in separate states, rings positive and with absolution in its hearts.
When the illustrious get together there is often carnage but there is also magnificence, beauty and the shattering of illusions, the perfect craft of music, poured over and sanctified is never forgotten. It is in that sanctity that the perception should be questioned, just how good is the album and just how great is the new line up of the band? Under the near spiritual guidance of Cyril Neville and Bart Walker, the five piece combination strut and ooze physical cool and The Royal Gospel frames that idyllic natural stance with ease.
The Royal Gospel is an album of pulsating riffs, of spirituality, of the divine hand seemingly at play and adding a tune or two that teases the angels into shedding their wings and their inhibitions let loose, driven crazy by the beat and the groove.
Tracks such as Blood Is Thicker Than Water, the superb Everybody Pays Some Dues, the inspirational Spirit Man, Can’t Waste Time and the absolute explosive detonation that rages in Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire all haunt the listener to the point of damnation, of fervour and handsome advance; it is the music of the illustrious, of the passionate and whilst you can and should question your perception of all you know, one thing will always ring true, Royal Southern Brotherhood’s The Royal Gospel is almost as distinguished as you can ask for.
Ian D. Hall