Royal Headache- High
Buy: Official Website
Genre: punk, garage rock
Apparently, this week's theme is "Bands whose members don't have real names". Papa Emeritus (from Ghost, who I reviewed in my last review) and Royal Headache's Shogun are two of a select few nameless frontmen who are currently trending upwards in the rock world. Royal Headache's new album "High", just came out, three years after their self titled debut, and it gives us 29 more too short minutes of insanely catchy punk nuggets, or, in some cases, insanely catchy slow burning ballads.
The album starts with a quick punk song and ends with a quick punk song, and hits many things in between, mostly different variations of quick punk songs. This works more often than not, making a cohesive set of songs without suffering from too much similarity. While almost all of the songs come and go in a flash (the longest, bass-anchored ballad "Wouldn't You Know", is still only 4:17), they leave a lasting mark. "My Own Fantasy" opens the album with a look at how different rock 'n' roll life actually is from how a kid in a garage with a practice amp might imagine it to be. "Need You" follows in short order, a Hüsker Dü-esque punk jam featuring an organ adding a nice sense of urgency to an already urgent sounding song. Shogun's repeated cry of "need you, need you, need you" is brilliantly restrained yet desperate. The title track, "High" is another love song, which is what most of the songs here are, and they all hit it spot on. "High"'s primary melody is a bit grating at first, but I grew to enjoy it on repeated listens.
The bass shines throughout this record. I can't find the bassist's name anywhere, but he does a fantastic job of underscoring every song with a rumbling counterpoint to the somewhat restrained guitars. If there's one thing this record is missing, it's some punch in the guitar sound. I've never been a fan of lo-fi for this reason, I like my guitars (and bass and drums for that matter) to sound massive. This sounds small, like it was recorded in a garage, which I'm sure is exactly what they were going for, it's just not my cup of tea. I do like the spots where the guitars should be more restrained, and are, such as on "Wouldn't You Know", which is definitely a highlight of the album.
Shogun's vocals don't lack any punch, though, and his range (dynamically, not note range) is outlined brilliantly in the differences between the back to back to back to back punch of his howl on "Another World", his soulful croon of "Wouldn't You Know" and his sneer followed by his scream on the ferocious "Garbage", which has one of the better basslines I've heard this year.
Overall, Royal Headache have created a very solid garage punk album, with occasional moments of brilliance and no standout disappointments. Every song will get stuck in your head relentlessly, and it won't come out until you go and listen to the record again. It's short, why not?
Two tracks that get me high: "Wouldn't You Know" and "Garbage"
Overall score: 75/100
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