Runnin’ Wild (Roadrunner)

If you feared you’d never again feel the ridiculous surge of testosterone and the desire to shotgun a six-pack that AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” once gave you, crank up Airbourne. This gritty Melbourne foursome is definitely a “guy band” (titles like “Cheap Wine & Cheaper Women” may lessen their appeal to the less-moronic sex), but lyrically they won’t be mistaken for Midnight Oil. What distinguishes this 11-track, Bob Marlette–produced debut album is the sheer kinetic relentlessness of performances like the anthemic, defiant “Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast” and the blustery, bluesy “Diamond in the Rough”. Frontman-guitarist Joel O’Keeffe delivers an impressively whisky-soaked rasp for a bloke in his mid 20s, and the rhythm section—with his brother Ryan on drums and Justin Street on bass—is tight throughout. Airbourne is off to a corker of a start.