Around 2007, when I was in the thick of high school and starting to jizz over underground metal, I was walking home from the dentist in my fresh Mastodon tee (for Leviathan obvi) when a burly Georgia man stopped me. He was a friend of Mastodon who grew up down the street from Troy, we got to talking about music and Mastodon’s then-buzzing rise. He told me about this band Royal Thunder, who were from similar circles in Atlanta, and who he thought had something special.
I listened to their demos and loved the music, but was excited to see what sort of music they would make as they played together more, toured, and wrote more songs. They seemed like the sort of group that would age in new and exciting ways. And of course with a few years belt tightening, 2012’s CVI and a rash of touring (I think I caught them four times that year) with diverse bands like Baroness and Dillinger Escape Plan, they’re really starting to get their horse legs.
Which is clear from the following studio video, documenting the making of their new record Crooked Doors with longtime producer Joey Jones in Aria Recording Studio in Marietta, Georgia. The film was shot and edited by Prizmheir. Check it out below:
Crooked Doors drops April 7 via Relapse. The band also unveiled a new song this week, “Time Machine,” which is… great. This is already an incredible step forward from CVI in terms of vibe, songwriting, melody,
