Album ReviewsClassic MetalDoom MetalSludge Metal

ALBUM REVIEW: Culture Of Fear – Seven Hundredth Unicorn

It takes a special kind of project to pull off a name like SEVEN HUNDREDTH UNICORN and still come across as a serious act. Since the two piece formed in their home town of Milton Keynes in the UK, the boys gave set out to create their own unique style of metal music embracing influences from the likes of BLACK SABBATH, NEUROSIS, CULT OF LUNA and MASTODON to make but a few. The band’s debut full length release Ruins Of Hope made people in the UK metal underground take notice of the band with its relentless display of heavy riffs and savage aggression. Now in 2019 the duo are set to drop their follow up album Culture Of Fear which shows the band taking aim at subjects such as media manipulation, political corruption and mental health amongst other things. The band are hoping that they can take the wonderful foundation that they created previously and build upon it here.

Culture Of Fear opens with the track Triumph Over Tragedy which sets the tone for the rest of the album perfectly. From the moment the first note is struck this track is an exercise in pure, unbridled aggression and ferocity. The drums from Matt Downes are frantic and incredibly technical, complimenting the impressive high paced guitar work from Dave Lyon which borders on black metal in the early stages, with brief sections of groove thrown in for good measure. The vocals performance from these two gentlemen cannot be understated here, the shrill banshee-esque screams make you feel genuinely concerned for Lyon’s vocal chords and Downes backs them up perfectly with the same level of intensity. The midpoint of the song shows SEVEN HUNDREDTH UNICORN switching up the style again and breaking things down with an almost progressive metal influenced clean break with some interesting, off-kilter guitar work showing that the band have the ability to switch up their style in order to keep things interesting.

The following track Axe To Grind slows the pace down ever so slightly and sees Lyon flexing his doom metal muscles with regards to the guitar riffs which involve a lot of low end, dirty distortion. The drum sound from Downes is very full and sounds booming in the mix, creating a wonderful foundation for the rest of the song to be built upon. The vocals on this song are as strong as ever and sound like they have been pulled straight from a NORMA JEAN album, rather than your standard sludge or doom influenced band. Between this track and Demons, the audience gets a real chance to experience the band embracing an almost hardcore punk sound when it comes to the style of the guitar riffs, giving you a real groove to bang your head along to whilst still leaning towards a metallic sound with the tone and overall feel.

New World Order is another track that oozes with attitude and the kind of swagger that you’d expect from a band far more experienced than SEVEN HUNDREDTH UNICORN are. The main riff to the song is simple, yet devastatingly effective and provides some real momentum for the track. The vocals once again are emotive and mixed perfectly to make sure that the raw feeling put in to them by Lyon does not get drowned out and lost. In the second third of the song there is a well written lead part that wouldn’t be out of place on an old metalcore album and provides some much needed melody to proceedings. The last minute or so of the song provides one of the highlights of the album; a real headbanging free-for-all with a bouncy, low end riff that is just pure fun and will bring a real party atmosphere to their live set.

Culture Of Fear is the sound of a band hitting the peak of their creative form. The songs are all explorative and exciting in their own way with plenty of original ideas and interesting turns that prove that these two gentlemen are truly gifted writers. If this is the kind of songwriting that SEVEN HUNDREDTH UNICORN are displaying at this early stage of their career then what they can create with even more experience under their belt when it comes to their next release.

Rating: 8/10

Culture Of Fear is set now via self-release. 

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