Amid the glut of great bands who have roared out of Australia’s blooming rock underground in the past decade or so, Royal Headache stood out from the start: four Sydney scruffs melding wind-tunnel punk with teary-eyed rock’n’roll soul, blessed with a singer (known only as Shogun, apparently even to his mum) who belts out head-rush melodies with a rare fire and flair. After releasing a terrific debut album in 2011, various troubles and tensions eventually led to Shogun walking away from the band; but now they’re back in action, and have finally finished their long-delayed second LP. And oh, it’s a joy: from the hurtling, hammering hooks of Another World to the stately old soul of Carolina, this is another fantastically compact and compelling set of songs that thread several decades’ worth of heartbreak-rock tactics together with style, skill and guileless honesty. Thank goodness High has been let loose at last: this feels like one of those truly habit-forming, again-and-again pleasures.
