The Internet might be a cold, dark place for social engagement now that everybody and their racist dog is on it, but one thing it continues to be great for is niche music scenes. Back in the late 20th century, nobody batted an eyelid as certain genres lurched through a constant cycle of death and revival - a curious pattern forced upon us by TV and radio which, with a lack of a better alternative, we relied on to tell us what was cool. But the permanence and democratic nature of the Web now enables any fan of music, no matter how obscure, to find and embrace a limitless offering of tunes for any style, taste and eventual obsession. Even those really out-there ones. What do you mean you don’t listen to witch house? The door back to 2011 is just over there, square. Why don’t you go through it so you can be reunited with dubstep again?

So it goes with synthwave, another vein of musical plundering from the dwindling remains of whatever gold remains from the 1980s. Since its infancy in the late 2000s, synthwave as a genre has continued to chug along with a burgeoning following and a nucleus of equally solid acts to sustain its momentum. The spectrum that it pulls its inspiration from is a little narrower than some of its other Eighties-hounding peers - think John Carpenter soundtracks, Drive, Stranger Things, jarring fever dreams featuring Snake Pliskin and those po-faced, suited-up individuals standing at keyboards on those old music shows you might have stumbled on during your YouTube deep dives. It very much sounds like another cheap culture grab from a time we really should be moving on from. But in practice, the combination of vintage analog synthesizers, modern production techniques and actual musical talent unifying and driving this revival has given it a continued valid presence. There is always the nostalgic aspect to enjoy, but there is also the fact that good artists can make anything sound fresh. Plus synths are certainly an ideal instrument for the angst or need for escapism that drive our current technologically anxious times. Well, that and Nightcall by Kavinsky is still a banger.

You know who else produces bangers? Gunship. Gunship are very fucking cool. A multi-instrumentalist trio consisting of Alex Westaway and Dan Haigh (formerly of British alt-rock band Fightstar), plus Alex Gingell, they’ve been a frontrunner for the synthwave scene since the mid-2010s and have the pedigree to go with it. They don’t just riff off of John Carpenter tracks - they do full-on collabs with him. And they’re amazing. If you haven’t heard ‘Tech Noir’ yet, by all means do your ears a favour. Projects with both heroes and peers alike also seem to be a running theme for them - just a quick glance at their Wikipedia page reveals an ever-increasing list of collaborators from music past and present. And this is no more prevalent than with their latest album Unicorn, which not only features a sensational album cover courtesy of concept artist Maciej Kuciara, but also boasts work with ten other artists outside of the band. That includes returning saxophonist Tim Cappello - yes, he of both Lost Boys fame, plus his work for various 80s greats including Peter Gabriel and Tina Turner, and who previously contributed to work on their last album, Dark All Day (released all the way back in 2018).

Gunship’s sound is steeped in the soaring, synth-laden melodies and shuddering drum beats that can only be delivered by the keyboards, sequencers and drum machines of a certain time and age. Like a lot of synthwave bands, there is also a touch of melancholy to a lot of their work, but with Westaway’s emotive vocals fronting the tracks, it’s usually delivered out of the wistful recollection of yesterday than any overt woe-is-me navel-gazing. Much less ‘life is shit’, far more ‘life was great’. Thematically, their songs have also often embraced sci-fi and future dystopia in the same way that metal tends to embrace fantasy and folklore, with all of the tech-romantic, rhapsodic storytelling that can go with that. In the case of Unicorn, things have also been sonically dialed up a few notches than before - parts of this album are harder and punchier than previous efforts and the PG-esque send-ups of Ready Player One that were present on Dark All Day have been remedied with a harsher yet intoxicating dose of all-out cyberpunk hedonism. For the most part it’s all the better for it, but how much better really depends on your opinion on saxophone solos, because there’s a few of them on what is admittedly a marathon-esque 14-song album. And for me, the sax can get a bit much at points (sorry Tim).

So how does it measure up overall? Is Unicorn the stuff of synth-topian legend or a lame one-trick pony? Here’s the song-by-song breakdown, as well as their accompanying teaser vid so you can sort of listen along:

Monster In Paradise - One of the lead-off singles for the album and one whose additional collaborators highlight its ambition. Alongside Cappello laying down the sax on this track we also have Wargasm vocalist-guitarist Milkie Way, movie soundtrack composer Tyler Bates and ex-Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo. Not a bad list! Combined, this makes for a blistering intro track which captures the themes prevalent throughout the album, eliciting visions of life on the cyberpunk fringe, with all the exhilarating danger and irresistible adrenaline rushes that come with such. Plus there’s a heavy helping of some fittingly nihilistic lyrics for the low-life, high-tech euphoria to come. ‘All this living is worth dying for’? You betcha. **** 1/2

Taste Like Venom - If ‘Monster In Paradise’ was a successful run on the mega corps, then this is the after party. A pulsating follow-up that doesn’t lose the rush of the first track, celebrating hedonism in its purest form with a relentless tempo and a chorus so infectious you can forgive the cheesy ‘hey - hey - hey’ sneaking into it (and all the fingerless-gloved fists raised in union to go with it). ****

Empress of the Damned - If the familiar intro melody is anything to go by, this is a spiritual sequel of sorts to the title track of Dark All Day. This is a much dancier number compared to that song though and also makes for another excellent collaboration - this time with Canadian electro-pop star Lights. Dark and moody with a threatening beat, the ambiguous lyrics are remarkably fun (‘I can’t be killed with conventional weaponry’ isn’t something I’d ever expect to hear in a song from any genre) and the chorus is unadulterated, damnable bliss. A must-listen. **** 1/2

Tech Noir 2 - The heralded return of John Carpenter to a Gunship song also heralds a follow-up to the immaculate ‘Tech Noir’ that was the cornerstone of Gunship’s first album. But while that track was a soaring melancholy elegy to a world in the midst of annihilation, its follow-up is unquestionably a high-tempo, far more optimistic second chapter in the saga. The world can be re-built, from the ashes can greater cities stand, the dream of Tech Noir can still be realized etc. etc. All very much ‘hope springs eternal’ in the post-apocalyptic sense. And with an insistent drum beat combining equally compelling synth work, Cappello’s saxophone being used sparingly but smartly (less is more in this case) and Charlie Simpson rejoining his Fightstar kin to provide the vocals on a spirit-lifting chorus, this is an fantastic follow-up. *****

DooM Dance - Right off of one heavyweight track comes another. Carpenter Brut, a fellow juggernaut of this genre are on hand to lend their big, dark and juddering style to a Gunship track and it’s every bit as good as fans of both bands might expect. Seriously, this is about as balls-to-the-wall as synthwave gets: a mind-blowing ride from start to finish. The lyrics might hint at dancefloor temptation, but the thumping military beat is the sonic equivalent of a platoon of tanks and T-800s rolling through your neighborhood to crush it underfoot. So loud, brash and satisfying you almost forget Gavin Rossdale of Bush fame is on this too - somewhere… *****

Blood For The Blood God - Warhammer meets Berlin techno. Who knew Khorne himself would get his own tribute on a Gunship album? Supplied by cult electro-rocksters HEALTH, no less? I kid - I have no real notion on whether this is truly a track endorsed by Games Workshop (or Chaos gods, for that matter)  but there’s more than a few references that’d make any nerd for the stuff be suspicious. In any case, this is a marked departure from Gunship’s regular sound, but while it’s an unusual combination, it definitely grows on the ear. ****

Weaponized Love - A tale of physical obsession turned to destructive love. You know who else might be known for writing songs like this? Nine Inch Nails - which is probably why it sounds a lot like Reznor and co.’s work. To be fair it’s a solid attempt at capturing the high points of possibly Pretty Hate Machine, but it’s too fleeting to live up to the quality of the first six songs on this album. A decent background number. *** and 1/2

Ghost - Teaming up here with Aussie synthwave duo Power Glove (‘Blood Dragon’ should ring a bell), this is a departure from the hedonistic core of the album to the spiritual - notably questions of death and the afterlife. For such heavy topics, this is one joint work that gives such themes their due with an ethereal, subtly powerful tune that uses harp-like synths and a funeral-like march of a beat to carry a beautiful, haunting and incredibly poignant melody. The way the sung title of the track floats over the song will especially stick with the ear. On an album that has plenty of strong tracks, this is its magnum opus. A masterpiece, and one well worth checking out its AI-generated music video for. *****

Darkness For Dreams - the first moment where the album starts to feel like it’s dragging a little. It is nonetheless great to have Stella Le Page back, whose work on ‘Fly For Your Life’ and ‘Art3mis and Parzival’ on Gunship’s previous albums have already made her a part of the band’s folklore. An ominous chant-like intro gives way to a drum-and-drone heavy track that is similar in tone and attitude to DooM Dance, but ultimately the song itself just isn’t strong enough to truly rival it. *** and 1/2

Holographic Heart - Gunship does Madonna by way of singer-actress Britta Phillips (who those with a knowledge for 80s cartoons might remember as the singing voice for Jem in Jem and the Holograms). A coy but tremendously catchy 80s pop number with the kind of gorgeous, multi-layered synth arrangement that’d give Shep Pettibone a run for his money. If you never found any of Madonna’s 80s work worthwhile, this is a skip. Otherwise you’ll have no issue ‘getting into the groove’ with this one (I’m here all week). **** and 1/2

Nuclear Date Night - Potentially another example of the album’s tracklist needing a trimming. It starts off pretty well - mid-tempo with a lot of interesting stuff going on with synthesizers cutting in and out over each other and the lyrics also manage to stay as fun as the title (even with the corny ‘Night time is the right time for love’ employed as one of them!). But it ultimately sounds like a facsimile of everything else on the album and the saxophone bits that come screaming in towards the end seem to be fighting with the tune instead of complimenting it. ***

Run Like Hell - take the best elements of Tech Noir 2 - the thundering pace of it and those pulsing synths that keep coming crashing in throughout - and turn it all up to 11. An absolute blast. Parallels to Monster In Paradise in terms of song theme - the thrill of everything hanging on a hair trigger and the celebration of a life in the fast lane. A necessary shot to the arm in a second half of an album that was threatening to tail off. *****

Lost Shadow - an abrupt change in tempo, and another song in the Gunship style whose ambiguous, tentative-stepping verses give way to a heartfelt chorus yearning ‘for yesterday’. Unassuming at the start, but worth persevering with as its beat builds in intent to eventually reveal a beautiful, tender soul of a chorus. ****

Postcard from the American Dream - a somewhat flat conclusion to what has otherwise been a great album. As the send-off for Unicorn, the theme takes on a somber tone as the subject seems to become the search for America’s soul, amidst a fall from decades of global reverence to a perceived dark era ‘scribed in blood and full of holes’. The recurring wistful wishing for a better time - or at least the one promised by American TV and film - asks the question, ‘whatever did happen to the American dream’? Like everything on this album, it’s earnest and heartfelt, but too plodding to be a memorable closer. Not even its soaring crescendo of a finale is enough to save this particular dream from being a bit of a dozer. ** and 1/2

There you have it - 58 stars out of a possible 70 gives us a genuinely great, well worth a listen 8 out of 10 album that’ll please cyberpunks and synth-heads alike. Unicorn is a superb return for Gunship, proving that they haven’t rested on their laurels in the five years it’s taken for them to come back with a full EP. As an album that makes heavy use of the tagline ‘imagination is a weapon’, it’s also apt to see the new ideas (not to mention collaborators) they’ve brought into their sound. Newcomers to the band who have an ear for synth music - especially if it comes with as much up-tempo swagger as this does - should also find this a great place to start before digging into their earlier classics. For new fans or old, it’s not just a myth: Unicorn is one white horse you won’t regret taking a ride with.