The Hunna’s inglorious success has been one of British guitar music’s more divisive narratives in the past few years. With an over-eager management company making a huge digital marketing push, the group swiftly amassed a colossal Instagram fanbase, but also suffered a pushback from weary social media users, tired of seeing the Hertfordshire lads in their feed.
That said, the group’s ascent may have been swift, but it’s also been rocky. Legal disputes and label rows dogged their progress, something that they even wrote about in their music, on the defiant single ‘IGHTF’.
New album ‘I’d Rather Die Than Let You In’ is their third, and ostensibly it aims to cement The Hunna’s gradual evolution from indie pop wannabes through to an actual, hard-hitting rock band. Incorporating prime emo tropes amid some slick John Feldmann steered production, it nonetheless all feels a little by-rote, a little predictable, and a little unimaginative.
Perhaps this is a sign of the continuing stain of the discussion surrounding their rise, but ‘I’d Rather Die Than Let You In’ feels a little too studied, lacking the verve and inventiveness of their influences. The sickly autotune doesn’t help – it removes their live power, replacing it with an effect that already sounds curiously dated.
Singles such as ‘Dark Times’ and ‘I Wanna Know’ set out their stall – crunching riffs, punchy drums, and tight song structures. That said, it’s all rather perfunctory, splicing the more acceptable aspects of Fall Out Boy with their own British guitar rock sound.
Title track ‘I’d Rather Die Than Let You In’ rides a Tom Morello style riff, but still ends up feeling tame. The Travis Barker aided ‘Cover You’ is certainly a bucket list moment for the band, and it grabs attention in a way that few other moments on the record actually do. – A tightly-bound 12 track collection, The Hunna’s third album is at best forgettable, and at worst clunky, even teeth-grindingly bad. ‘Horror’ tries the patience, while ‘One Day You’ll Thank Me’ has you desperately counting down the seconds until its actually over.
But perhaps that’s churlish. ‘I’d Rather Die Than Let You In’ is built by fans for fans – it’s the sound of The Hunna making the record they want to make. Whether it’s something Clash will ever listen to again, though, is another story.
3/10
Words: Robin Murray
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