Over the past few years, The Hunna have exploded in popularity. They recently sold out their UK tour within minutes and were announced in the line-up for Slam dunk before their new album even hit streaming services. The album was produced by legendary producer extraordinaire, Gil Norton (The Pixies, Foo Fighters, Busted, You Me At Six, Band of Skulls, AFI, Twin Atlantic)
The album opens with The Storm which has this long synth intro which then erupts into wailing guitars and some yelled vocalisation which echoes in the background. This introduces us to what feels more like the first song, Trash a punk track that targets those in the music industry who mistreated the band with some straight-to-the-point lyricism not hiding behind any flowery words to cover up its meaning. Fugazi then comes in to complement this and demonstrates just how much the band are past caring what others have to say in regard to their musical decisions. It’s a striking all encompassing rant concerning girls, partying, and getting drunk but it does provide further depth. The band allude to their recent struggles with their former label (“I think it’s time we got to play / We’re breaking outta this cage”).
At times, the album feels very frantic before shifting into more of a chilled indie rock album. Though even in more laid-back heartfelt tracks such as Find A Way Out (Back To You) there are some explosions of distorted guitars thrown in. It was also sometimes difficult to tell whether tracks like You Can’t Sit With Us are serious or sarcastic as it does sound like something you’d say at school and the sort of thing a 13-year-old thinks is deep but isn’t.
There is a clear uniformity to many of the songs though Sick seems to stand out with those vociferous strings and some awesome screamed backing vocals from Charlie Simpson to add some anguish and tension. Unfortunately, the album felt a little long at thirteen tracks and it felt like there was some filler in there.
This fourth album from THE HUNNA takes them back to basics and showcased what first gained the band popularity and harkened back to earlier days when they had more creative control. Perhaps there were one too many songs on the album and seems like it would have been more popular if it was released a few years ago. However what it can be best described as is a fun, simple yet creative album with an interesting pace and some notable sarcastic humour. Whilst it is nothing earth-shattering The Hunna are just creating music they believe in and having fun whilst doing it which is really what most people want.
The Hunna was released on October 28 through LMW Records and is now available on all streaming platforms.
Make sure to keep up with the band’s official Twitter page for information on their tour and any new releases.
