Release Date: August 30, 2024 Genre: Alternative Rock, Glam Rock, Art Rock Label: Sumerian Records
Palaye Royale is a Canadian-American alternative rock and glam rock band based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. With the release of their anticipated fifth studio record, Death or Glory, due out on August 30, 2024, via Sumerian Records, they have made quite a big year for themselves alongside the album release with an upcoming tour with I See Stars, Weathers, and Diamante in the US and a few parts of Canada in the Fall. Then in late November, Palaye Royale will be playing a massive show at the Wembley Arena in the UK. There's a lot going on for Palaye Royale this year. I’ve been a fan of Palaye Royale for a few years for a couple of record cycles since they dropped, The Bastards, in 2020. For this record, the band went with American producer Matt Squire, who just worked on the recently released The Warning's Keep Me Fed, as well as Ice Nine Kills, Atreyu, and more. Also, for the record, they went in a different direction than previous work. A lot of tracks sound very similar to one another but I'm curious about how fans will react to this release.
The album starts off with the title track “Death Or Glory.” The song starts off groovy with guitars and gets you kind of shaking your head with some decent bopping. It continues with this theme throughout the song with a non-noticeable repetitive chorus until you catch it after a couple of listens after. I will be replaying this song for sure. “Hot Mess” is another song with a groovy feel to it. It reminds me of the Back To The Future dance scene where Marty McFly is trying to save his parent's relationship at the dance. This song fits perfectly for that dance. It's a good prom/dance song for sure with a catchy chorus and fast-paced guitars. “Just My Type” is another good repetitive chorus but it catches you bopping your head, that’s what I’ve noticed compared to this record with previous ones, where the verses usually grab toward me, but instead it’s the choruses for this one. Near the first half of the song, Remington tries a fast verse kind of thing similar to rapping but it wasn’t. It was cool to hear.
“Ache In My Heart” Is probably the only song on the record that sounds similar to previous Palaye Royale records. They did switch it up at the start and added a cool NF “Let You Down” style of vocals for the beginning and the chorus of the song is back with Remington’s vocals. Very catchy ominous sound that they are known for and you’ll love it. “For You” didn’t wow me compared to the other songs, it feels more or less like an album filler track and probably the reason why I said that is when I noticed this at the start of the record where most of the rest of the album all sounds similar for vocals, and instrumentally.
“Dark Side Of The Silver Spoon” starts off with a huge violin start and it feels like you're back in church, with like a sound familiar vocally to “Ache In My Heart, but instrumentally it’s not even close to it but it’s a good song. It gets that groovy sound that this record is going into. “Showbiz” is funny to say for the song name, as this song feels like it should be in a movie. Probably in some action movie with a car scene that’s going over 200 miles an hour or even a big fierce action scene with The Avengers. You hear it mainly with the verses from the guitar riffs and the direction the band was going for the song.
“Mister Devil” is probably the hardest song on the record -instrumentally and even vocally- in certain parts. Remington went hard for some of the raspy vocals that he’s known for in both the choruses and verses. We have a few nice guitar slides and heavy bass and cymbals going from the drummer. It's a great song for any fans of hard rock or the hard style from Palaye Royale. You know they couldn’t go off without a second heavy hitter and well, they did. “Addicted To The Wicked & Twisted” is another heavy banger on the record. It starts off slow in the beginning, but picks up at the bridge and just goes off with a big arena-style vocal for the chorus. More or less, it is a hard rock song that has some screams and arena vocals with groovy guitars and bass patterns. “Self-loathing Conversation” is the slowest track on the record that feels like would be perfect with a good flashlight/lighter type of song at a show or even more a good "get over" breakup song. It has some very slower verses, both instrumentally and vocally, then picks up big for the chorus.
“Been Too Long” didn’t feel mixed that well from what I’ve heard. You can hear auto-tune kind of going in strange places for the vocals, especially in the high parts of the vocals in the first verse and the bridge, but does even itself out throughout the song. Overall, it’s another rock song from Palaye Royale that sounds similar to a few other songs on this record. Last but not least is “Pretty Stranger,” which feels like another “For You” but is more repetitive during the chorus. It's probably the only song with the most drum cymbals and snares going off for the chorus and even verses. They do have some trumpets and commentary kind of leading it off near the end of the song, but to me, this song does not feel like the best album closer compared to the band's past records.
Overall, the fifth album from Palaye Royale has its moments. It has its good tracks and its not-so-good tracks. Overall, I feel like they should look into different ideas and themes for the next record and not sound so similar to each track for the next one. I will say, if you're a fan of Palaye Royale already, check it out, and if you're not, maybe there's something on it that will reel you in.