Australian hardrock, well-written, well-played, well-produced and above all: loud. No, I’m not talking about a new AC/DC record, but about Runnin’ Wild, the debut full-length of Melbourne’s Airbourne. A young and promising band with four youngsters who just want to rock (hard!).

A while ago, Buzzin Hornet introduced me to Airbourne during a Metalrage meeting. The Aussie pub rock that I heard immediately reminded me of AC/DC and that’s definitely not meant in a negative way. Sure the music isn’t original, but why does everything has to be original all the time? When you can play hardrock like Airbourne can, it doesn’t matter what you play as long as you keep playing.

When the established order doesn’t counterattack this record quickly, Airbourne will kick them of their thrones for sure. While listening to Runnin’ Wild it is almost impossible to sit still. Songs like ‘Stand Up For Rock ‘N’ Roll’, the title track and ‘What’s Eatin’ You’ are topped with an incredible amount of passion and an immense dose of energy. This is perfect music for rocking out and totally get wasted with a lot of beer, or wine, as stated in ‘Stand Up For Rock ‘N’ Roll’.

Airbourne has managed to create music for young metalheads as well as for their hardrock fathers. It will probably be difficult to exceed this disc, but I’m already looking forward to their next one. Runnin’ Wild definitely tastes like more!