GUNSHIP new album knocks it out of the park

GUNSHIP comes back with a near perfect album.

“Synthwave” (aka Outrun)  is a growing music genre, starting up along other neo-80s revivals, the most popular being Netflix’s hit show “Stranger Things.” The whole genre has a stylized vibe, evoking scifi, action, and horror man John Huges to make something very special. This whole genre can be attributed to Ryan Gosling’s 2011 film “Drive”,” and the genre really has to be heard to be understood.  With 80s things being a big part of who I am, it is a no brainer that I would gravitate towards this sort of music.

GUNSHIP brings elements from other genres into their music in a very seamless way, and really just set themselves apart. It’s an ode to that time in history.

“Dark All Day” is their second album, their debut album releasing 2015. I was introduced to GUNSHIP soon after their first album dropped, and I instantly fell in love with the music they put out, so I was incredibly hyped for Dark All Day to come out.

This album is awesome, with just a few flaws. The first 5 tracks: “Woken Furies,” “Dark All Day,” “When You Grow Up,” “Your Heart Dies” and “Drone Racing League” are all absolute winners. They all have a really consistent quality, with “Dark All Day” being particularly pulse pounding, but I really can’t decide which one is the best.

The album just keeps going with “Rise of The Midnight Girl,” a slower paced piece of music but still great, and “Thrasher.” Both tracks really hold up next to the previous ones. The only song I really didn’t love is “Black Blood Red Kiss,” their song featuring Kat Von D. No offense to Von D but in terms of a vocalist, she is no Indiana. 

GUNSHIP immediately bounces back, with a wonderful cover of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time after time,” and after that, the album just really didn’t stop being awesome, offering that brilliant neon dark feel. “Honour Amongst Thieves,” “Art3mis & Parzival,” “Symmetrical,” “Cyber City,” and “The Gates of Disorder” serve as an excellent final half.

Overall, GUNSHIP is the group I recommend if you’d like to get into modern Synth music, and they really are one of the best of the genre yet, most definitely pushing the genre’s envelope.  Dark All Day is awesome, and all in all a very consistently great album. While the genre is certainly not for everyone, I highly recommend Dark All Day to fans of the genre, and in general to people willing to expand their musical horizons.