From Sydney, Australia, punk/pop quartet Royal Headache clearly had a field day researching/soaking up influences for their second album.

While the lairy garage rock of 2012’s self-titled debut had all the appeal of a weekend stroll through Temple Bar at 2am, there is a marked change for the better here.

High's 10 tracks still roll along with no small amount of clatter, but this time around there's more focus on getting from A to Z in a relatively straight line.

This said, it’s sometimes difficult to ignore such obvious nods to the class of UK punk rock, circa ’77-’79.

Tracks such as My Own Fantasy, Wouldn't You Know and Electric Shock reference the likes of Buzzcocks, The Stranglers and The Skids in ways that are very easy to like yet impossible to absolve from the sin of theft.

royalheadache.com.au