Four years on from their debut self-titled record, Royal Headache have worked their high-energy garage rock down to an art.
Straight up, their second release High is a churning mass of noise, aggression and compassion – in short, everything punters loved in their debut and more.
Gone are the instrumentals of their first album – in their place are catchy-as-hell anthemic numbers and ballads with bright, almost cheery keys. But don’t get too comfortable; these songs feel right at home in between the more raucous tracks. The heartfelt ‘Wouldn’t You Know’ may be beautiful and feature Shogun’s tender vocals, but this is followed by the bass-and-broken-glass-driven refrain of “You belong in the garbage” on ‘Garbage’.
At the heart of Royal Headache is the performance of their frontman. Soulful and piercing, his lyrics show an extraordinarily empathic soul whose themes of love and disaster become something explosive and transcendent. Shogun clearly cares until it hurts and this makes for some incredible vocals.
On High, Royal Headache display the vibrancy that grew out of their debut and crawled its way through Sydney’s fractured urban sprawl. Emerging caked in dirt and grit, the result isn’t pretty but the beauty is definitely there – just beneath the blunt-edged guitars and world-worn battle scars.
Royal Headache’sHighis released through Distant And Vague/What’s Your Rupture?.
