Pageant's

Title: Life In-Between
Band: Royal Bliss, www.myspace.com/royalbliss
Record Label: Capitol, 2009
Reviewer: Shauna Brock

Track Listing:

1. 1.       Save Me
2. 2.       Here They Come
3. 3.       Devils & Angels
4. 4.       Pocket of Dreams
5. 5.       Finally Figured Out
6. 6.       We Did Nothing Wrong
7. 7.       By & By
8. 8.       Wash it All Away
9. 9.       Whiskey
10. 10.   Fancy Things
11. 11.   I Don’t Mind
12. 12.   I Was Drunk

The words “all American drinking band” and “Salt Lake City” don’t seem like they should go well together, yet Royal Bliss is taking pride in breaking down that stereotype and bringing their brand of Rock and Roll to the streets of America with their major label debut, <i>Life In-Between</i>.  It’s an appropriate name for an album from a band that hails from a city where everything seems to exist in a gray area between the way the local culture is actually structured and how the rest of the world perceives it.

Well known in the Salt Lake City scene, Royal Bliss has spent the past ten years refining their often mottled sound into a clear, American blues-rock style. As a result of their hard work, they bring a maturity to their national scene debut that many bands lack.  <i>Life In-Between</i> offers up already well-loved songs and also introduces the band to America as a group of men who know what it is to be husbands and parents, and who know what it takes to survive in a culture where being different often brings about a feeling that life really is nothing but an in-between state where you can do no right yet so often, you do no wrong.

The collection of twelve songs on <i>Life In-Between</i> includes two re-mastered treasures from their last independent release, <i>After the Chaos II</i>, “Here They Come” and “Devils & Angels.” The songs, which were the ones to catch the attention of the national labels, are favorites of fans. “Here They Come” is a blatant commentary on non-Mormon life in Salt Lake while “Devils and Angels” pleads the argument between a life of addiction or a life with stability and a person to love.

The new songs, some of which have been sung at different shows throughout the course of the past ten years, give the quintet a chance to stretch their musical muscles and for Neal Middleton to show off the range (and the scream) that will soon become one of the most well known in rock music. Middleton is backed by the vocals of guitarists Taylor Richards and Chris Harding, bassist Tommy Mortensen, and Jake Smith on drums.

Middleton’s voice lends credence to the songs on the album – there is a childlike innocence in his vocals that makes you believe in the promises uttered in tracks like “By and By” (which is a promise to eternal friendship) and “Pocket of Dreams” (which is as much about achieving our own dreams as hoping that our children will achieve theirs). Yet, in the same breath, he brings an authentic air of “been there, done that, and burned the t-shirt” to harder tunes like “Save Me,” “Wash it All Away,” and “Whiskey.”

However, the standouts on the album are the powerful “We Did Nothing Wrong,” a mid-tempo piece that speaks quite clearly to a generation that is misunderstood and yet often blamed for a world they did not create. And, the bittersweet coming of age drinking ballad “I Was Drunk” that details fond memories of a life out of control and a reminder that just because we grow up, the party doesn’t have to end.

The growth of the band has been charted in Salt Lake through local radio stations and packed bars and is as mixed and interesting as this collection of songs.  Despite a couple of lineup changes, an accident that almost killed Middleton, poor early-on management, and the toughness of the music business, with <i>Life In-Between</i>, Royal Bliss shows the world they are ready for the next stage of success and that there is more to Utah than the LDS Church and Sundance.