Released:
Rating:
‘100’ is about as edgy as a balloon.
Label: High Time Records
Released: August 26th 2016
Rating: ★
Google ‘Hunna’ and the first result not related to The Hunna which pops up is an entry on Urban Dictionary. There are, apparently, two definitions of this slang word. The first is a “short term for hundred” – which would explain the album title while making it no less imaginative. The second – and the funniest in this case – is a “term of endearment, much like honey, but cool and edgy”. Why is that funny? Because ‘100’ is about as edgy as a balloon. And not of the helium variety – it never gets off the ground.
From the moment second track ‘We Could Be’ re-uses a lyric from opener ‘Bonfire’, it’s obvious that this is going to be a painful, wince-inducing experience. Yes, we get it, you “blew up like a bonfire” – except this bonfire isn’t accompanied by any fireworks. At 16 tracks and just shy of an hour long, ‘100’ looks like an epic on paper, but the results all sound so forced, so horribly, transparently contrived.
The Hunna – or whoever’s running their social media – don’t half like a lot of tweets about The 1975. The band’s online presence – particularly the somewhat notorious way in which they’ve been marketed through shameless targeted Facebook adverts – is worthy of a review in itself, but that Twitter behaviour is interesting to say the least. If they’re attempting to appeal to The 1975’s fans, they’re not going to have much luck. The 1975 worked the model of boy band with guitars to stunning effect on their latest album, and while The Hunna seem to be going for the same model on ‘100’, the results are decidedly cringeworthy. Tom Hancock
