As they kick off a sold-out, two-night stand at the Albert Hall, it’s easy to forget just how choppy the waters were that Black Country, New Road had to navigate to make it here.

The London collective seemed to be living a charmed life after they broke through with their first singles in 2019. Their debut album, For the First Time, was critically adored and went to number four in the albums chart on release in 2021.

A year later, the group was thrown into disarray when frontman Isaac Wood abruptly departed just four days before the arrival of their second record, Ants from Up Here. This might have sunk lesser bands.

In this case, the remaining six members quickly set about writing new material and hit the road three months later with an entirely fresh batch of songs, the only document o

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