Royal Blood’s Dead Company is banger after banger. The energy just keeps coming, to the point where I felt tired after listening to it. “Dead Company” is the perfect opener, “Ten Over Ten” lands exactly where it should, and the whole thing earns a 10/10 from me.
Some albums take a while to get going. This one had me from the first second.
The drums on the opening title track throw you straight into it. From there, the record keeps pushing. That relentless energy is what made it such a good listen for me.
Dead Company Gets Straight Into It
“Dead Company”, the title track we covered on release, is the perfect way to open this album.
You’re straight into drums from the first second, and it doesn’t let up. There’s an immediacy to that which I loved. The song gets on with it and sets the pace for what follows.
It also gives the album a clear starting point. By the time the opening track has done its job, you know the sort of energy you’re dealing with.
And that feeling keeps coming.
A Fifth Album With Plenty Left in the Tank
Dead Company is Royal Blood’s fifth studio album, following 2023’s Back to the Water Below. Released on 6 November 2026 through Warner Records, it brings together 10 tracks in around 32 minutes. Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher produce the record themselves.
That compact running time suits my experience of it. There is a lot of energy packed into this album, and I came away feeling as though I’d had a workout just listening.
I mean that as a compliment.
Ten Over Ten Lands Perfectly at Track Three
“Ten Over Ten” was already familiar before I heard the album.
I’d heard it on the radio and already liked it. In the running order of Dead Company, though, it hit differently.
It’s track three, and that placement feels spot on. By then the album has already got going, and this familiar song arrives to keep the momentum moving. Another relentless banger, exactly where I wanted it.
That is what made hearing it on the album different from catching it on the radio. The tracks around it give it a setting. It becomes part of that opening run rather than a song heard on its own.
It’s a good example of why the order of an album matters. A track you already know can make another impression when it arrives at the right moment.
The Energy Keeps Coming
“Dead Company” and “Ten Over Ten” are the two tracks I’d pick out, but my reaction comes from the full record.
It was the way one banger followed another. I kept enjoying what came next, and the energy never became a reason to switch off. It was the reason I stayed with it.
Being tired by the end sounds like a strange recommendation, but that was the joke I made after listening. The album had given me that much.
I don’t have a weakness to manufacture here. For what I wanted from this record, it delivered.
Final Verdict
Dead Company is a perfect album for me. The title track gets straight in with the drums and establishes the pace. “Ten Over Ten” takes a song I already enjoyed on the radio and gives it extra impact through its place in the sequence.
Then there’s the overall feeling: banger after banger, with the energy still coming.
That is why this gets 10/10. Royal Blood gave me an album I loved from the start, and I finished it feeling thoroughly worn out in the best possible way.
Rating: 10/10
Standout tracks: “Dead Company”, “Ten Over Ten”.
Album details checked against Apple Music’s release listing and Royal Blood’s official store. Track order checked against Blood Records’ tracklist.
