Out of Tauranga, by way of Melbourne where they’re currently based, hard rocking four-piece Bonjah return with their third studio album. This is a young band with a great back story; high school friends who left the bosom of home for the bright lights of Oz back in 2006. They honed their craft busking, initially out of pure necessity, before hitting the road – touring extensively, right across the globe.

All of that experience is immediately apparent on an album that positively bristles with the sort of self-assurance that only comes from time spent playing together. This is garage meets blues-rock, of the harder variety, 11 solid tunes running the course of some 37 minutes. Brooding opener Bullet In The Barrel sets the tone, the raspy vocal of Glenn Mossop well-equipped to complement the slow burning tension in the music. Evolution and Honey, which were put out as tasters well in advance of the album’s release, are among the highlights, but the title track has to be the best thing here. It works as a slightly menacing centrepiece, with soulful harmonies, and a terrific vocal cameo from Ella Hooper. Produced by Jan Skubiszewski and recorded at two locations in Melbourne, ‘Beautiful Wild’ is all about possessing a certain type of swagger – let’s call it a rock’n’roll thing – and it’s something these guys have in spades.