Review by Lucas Bell
Rarely, do I ever get suggested or thrown a new band to check out, that by the end of the first song, I become obsessed. This is how I feel about unpeople. The rapidly ascending four-piece from London have crafted one of the most unique, and flat out insane pieces of work that has crossed my desk in the last 12 months. The album takes the philosophy behind the band’s name and turns it into a powerful, uncompromising statement of intent.
Blending a mix of crushing riffs, groovy basslines, drum work that will make your heart skip several times a song, and a blend of catchy pop, and some of the craziest vocals I’ve heard all year, we are unpeople has something truly for everyone. And where for some bands that might seem like an unfocused mess, unpeople harness it all into a literal Spirit Bomb level of epicness, if I can borrow something from Dragon Ball Z.
Opening on ‘clouds’, this song immediately sets the tone. “We’re gonna make something truly different”. I don’t think there is a 30 second period on this song that feels the same as the rest of the song. The Devin Townsend level blackened metal vocals and instrumental around the 2:50 mark absolutely blew my mind, because I had no reasonable expectation to think it was coming. But it’s my favourite part of the song. ‘friends’ continues this with more insane drumming and guitar work, although a little more subdued on the vocals. Still an awesome song. A much more straight forward heavier pop punk style.
‘the garden’ is probably my favourite showcase of the bass work on this record. Some of the grooviest shit on the whole record, and another song that while the vibes are a little different from songs like ‘friends’ and ‘clouds’, it feels like it sits in the exact lane that has been set for it. ‘swallow’ is the first song from the record not to have been released yet, and I immediately pick up vibes that feel like this would be something like Enter Shikari made if they did more pop punk stuff. The shouty vocals at the start are very Shikari coded.
‘bottle it’ drives the drumwork into overdrive, and real quick but if you haven’t seen drummer Richard Rayner, the dude is fucking shredded. And only some that shredded can smash out drum work like what is across this whole record with such intensity and ferocity. This track is much more fun that maybe some of the other songs, but it has definitely grown to be one of my favourites from the album. ‘blueprints’ however, is a complete tonal shift. A much more stripped back, subdued track, that fits for the halfway point. Vocalist Jake Crawford really gets the showcase on this track with some of the most heavy hitting vocals, and bassist Em Lodge digs the emotions in even harder on the chorus.
‘haunted’ kicks the record back into pop punk territory for the second half, with one of the catchiest riffs on the record. This feels like straight up 2010s pop punk in the best way. ‘waste’ is one of two songs from the record that has been brought forward from the band’s 2024 self titled EP, and there is a reason for it. This song just slams, and paces well behind ‘haunted’. If you were to put two songs next to each other, these would be the two. ‘look up’ following on though, feels instrumentally like a metal song, but those dual vocals on the verses are just incredible. If I had to pick one thing I love most about this record, it’s whenever a Crawford/Lodge vocal harmony.
‘kangareuben’ kicks out the gate super thrashy, showcasing just how fucking crazy Crawford’s vocals can get, and is a showcase for how versatile his vocal work is. Just a crazy track overall. ‘smother’ is the other song from the 2024 EP, and I remember hearing it for the first time, feeling like I was back in a mid 2000s alt metal space. Not as fast as some of the other songs, but man does this track throw me back in time a bit when I listen to it. The album closer, ‘as you were’, is the album’s longest song at just over four and half minutes. And if you were wondering, “can these guys do a stadium anthem song”, they sure fucking can. A massive finish to a massively fun record.
It’s been hard to decide on where I put we are unpeople on my list of 2026 releases. I’ve only had two albums this year hit perfectly for me. Loathe’s ‘A Stranger to You’, and MØL’s ‘DREAMCRUSH’, both of which I scored as perfect 10s. But if I could give we are unpeople an 11, I think I probably would. This has been the most fun I’ve had with a record all year. And while both Loathe and MØL put out records that for me are masterpieces, I didn’t have nearly as much fun with them as I did with we are unpeople. An album with literally zero skips.
Score – 10/10 (but really it’s 11)
Album Highlights: ‘clouds’, ‘look up’, ‘kangareuben’
