Ache by Highroad No. 28: Review

by admin November 22, 2025

November 22, 2025

Highroad No. 28 step into their next creative era with “Ache,” a brooding, cinematic alt-rock single that sharpens their sound into something darker, heavier, and far more intimate. Released November 1 and distributed globally through The Orchard, the track illustrates their forthcoming third album, The Will to Endure, and the band rising above with artistic maturity as they wear their hearts on their sleeves.

The Melbourne outfit recorded the single at Sing Sing Recording Studios, capturing an expansive and tightly coiled production. Mixed by rising producer James Taplin, “Ache” blends moody textures with melodic precision as it turns sorrow into something strangely luminous. The band describe the track as an exploration of emotional honesty, and the recording wears that statement like armor. Nothing is hidden, nothing is softened.

The song opens on rumbling, catchy drums riding under an immersive, shimmering soundscape that steps into a fogged-in memory. Then a sudden orchestral wave hits, with swelling strings warming the edges of the mix, thawing something cold beneath. It’s tender, almost cinematic, just long enough to make you inhale before the gritty guitars tear through and the vocalist steps forward. His voice is thick, rich, and bruised at the edges, bleeding vulnerability.

Once he enters, the track becomes a tug-of-war between collapse and resolve. He sings about his life withering as his dreams fade, “aching for air” while meaning slips through his hands. The guitars churn and pulse behind him while he questions himself — and something larger — asking if he should still care after “all the years” he tried, and wondering aloud, “is this the reply?” It’s like he is pleading and all that happens is that his pleas are thrown upward into the dark, unsure if anyone is listening.

As the song unfolds, the ache reverberates and engulfs our souls, tired of the economy, the capitalization, and the Highroad No. 28 turns longing into atmosphere, despair into momentum. “Ache” sets a high bar for The Will to Endure, promising an album steeped in intensity, clarity, and emotional honesty that refuses to look away.