Named after the international icon of fantasy and imagination, UNICORN is emblazoned with the tagline "Imagination Is A Weapon". GUNSHIP is so good at weaving their signature sound through so many stylistic lenses which range from dance tunes to industrial bangers and back again that one could easily assume that as this album bounces from song to song that this is a playlist rather than an album. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. As far as highlights go, Empress Of The Damned is head-and-shoulders the best song here, partly for its industrialised dance-pop throb, and partly because Lights is such an engaging vocalist that carrying a song like this requires little effort.

This chorus to this track owes me months of back rent but keeps invoking squatter’s rights as it kicks every other song to the curb when its territory is encroached upon. In the last eight years, they’ve released just two albums to date, Unicorn marking their third album and, unsurprisingly, it’s just as jam-packed with features from across the musical spectrum as ever. That album came out five years ago now, and the single prevailing memory of Gunship is their slavish desire to ‘80s synthwave, in a way that subsumed anything approaching a cogent idea or identity in favour of laying that devotion bare. I mean, there isn't much else to say - if you liked some of the songs on their first two albums, then you'll definitely like some of the tracks on this one. We carry a broad range of CDs and vinyl (7”/12” singles and LPs) and specialise in indie, alternative, rock, punk, metal plus a few other genres.If that’s the intent, then obviously Unicorn is a roaring success, but empty-calorie nostalgia-baiting with nothing beneath the shiny, neon veneer is obviously not a good outcome. Tech Noir’ finally gets a sequel too, with ‘Tech Noir 2’ bringing Charlie Simpson back to team up with his Fightstar bandmates alongside John Carpenter. Maybe it’s the beats, the industrial overtones, synth’s irrevocable connection to horror movies, or something else entirely.

If you like the 80’s synth sound mixed in with classic sci-fi like terminator, robocop, aliens et al with a nice sprinkling of cyberpunk, chances are you will enjoy this album.

Unicorn is quite the accomplishment in scope, guests, atmosphere, sex appeal, and general badassery. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. They’re simply just parts of an objectively impressive array of guests, plugged into place with barely a thought given to what uniqueness they could possibly bring.

It’s also a massive undertaking, asking for just over an hour of your time which is a big ask; the good news is, that Gunship mostly justify the runtime, but there’s definitely room to trim back some of their more egregious excesses. Two years later we made the move to our present address, 35 The Headrow, where we have remained ever since. And with half a decade now to process that, you’d think that Unicorn might seek to redress the balance.

Granted, there’s not a ton that comes from that, seeing as most don’t get to show much of themselves off, instead falling into Gunship’s maw to be spat out as a nominal vocaloid fit for purpose. It’s all incredibly similar stuff all over the place, from the analogue synths to the gated percussion, to the saxophone that trails through about half-a-dozen songs here, and sounds more perfunctory every single time. Tastes Like Venom” is a pleasant slice of debauchery and the resulting steam from two opposites attracting while being bolstered by an incredibly catchy chorus, snappy beats, and tempo changes that enhance the song’s dynamics: especially that final half-time chorus. It just leads to an album that drags incessantly, not helped by how little variation there is the chugging synth progressions.