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| photo credit: Min Reid-Richards |
This week the lovely Kais and Mazin, aka Britroyal finally released their debut album London! Having worked with Pledge Music to deliver the album, it is currently available exclusively to pledgers. This means that if you missed out on pledging, you will have to wait until the iTunes release I'm afraid!!
I thought I would review the album in order to hopefully entice anyone to support the guys and their album once it is widely available. London is a brilliant album, instantly memorable with catchy choruses and plenty of strings and guitar riffs. If you are familiar with Kais and Mazin's music then you will recognise the trademark Britroyal sound throughout the album. However, on the whole it is a far more positive and upbeat record, full of inspirational messages delivered through anthemic tracks.
The track listing is as follows:
1. Stronger - what an epic beginning to the album! The opening chants are anthemic and there is a good, positive message to the song. The song tells you that any pain you go through makes you stronger in the end. You can imagine this song being played at a gig with everyone swaying their phone lights in the air!
2. Defiant - this song is more upbeat and carries another strong message, that you should never let anyone get you down - be defiant and fight for your dreams in life.
3. Change - I found this song to be almost countryesque! The chorus is the winner here, simply telling you that 'it's never too late to change your life'. Whilst I love the message in the song, at the moment it is my least favourite track from the album.
4. Count on Me - there are woah oh's in abundance at the beginning of this song and it is extremely anthemic. There is a good use of strings in the song too which adds to the great sound created by the guys. Once again the lyrics are very positive, one of my favourites being 'I'll be the light in the dark when you can't see". This song is a great way of telling someone that they can depend on you.
5. What Matters Most - this is one of my favourite tracks from the album. It is a beautiful and poignant ballad which, as with many of the album tracks, appears to have been influenced by personal experiences. Experiencing dark times can make you realise what's important in life.
6. Compromise - this is a more up-tempo ballad about keeping a relationship alive by compromising. There is positivity within this song and it's most definitely a grower.
7. Head v Heart- cue one of the most trademark Britroyal songs on the album! As the title suggests, the song highlights the head and heart battle between staying and walking away. This will definitely be a good song to hear live. It is instantly catchy and the chorus is very easy to sing along to.
8. Tears - this is the surprise track on the album for me as it is the most far removed from the trademark Britroyal sound. Nonetheless, between great guitar riffs and the fantastic vibe the song gives, it is one of my favourites by far. The best line in the song for me is a lyric which almost sounds like a rap, which I find amusing considering how posh Kais and Mazin are haha, but the tongue-twisting lyric is 'and it's too heavy to hold under the weight of it all'. (It will make more sense to anyone when listening to it!).
9. Love's Burning Out - this takes us back to the Britroyal style that we're used to. The song is definitely a grower and builds from the beginning into a strong chorus.
10. London Streets - the main album ends with another strong ballad. Filled with woahs, drum beats and great lyrics, this is a great song to end a brilliant album with.
11/12/13. (Deluxe tracks) Wasted I Love You/Unfinished/Ordinary - Britroyal have added three of their previous EP tracks as bonus songs on the deluxe version of the album. In my opinion these are the three best songs from their EP which you can download here. They are sing-a-long tracks, with Ordinary being the stand out track for me.
When I first heard their EP, it took me quite a while to get used to it however I was instantly hooked on this album within the first time of listening to it. I love how every song has a meaning behind it and how they've taken personal experiences and turned them into positive songs. They have truly excelled themselves with this album and I'm so pleased that I pledged and got to own this superb album before a lot of other people!
Hwyl am y tro ✌️
