Neverlanded – Fluffy Unicorns United

11th March 2019 0 By Aaron Emerson

Just another day at the All About The Rock ghetto (my home) I am passed this lovely little gem by my editor to have wee gander and listen to. Enter, Neverlanded, formed in 2017 as an online project this intrepid trio of Grunge meets Alternative Rock Londoners gives us their first EP, with the magnificently named Fluffy Unicorns United. Colour me intrigued, let’s find out what this young trio has to offer.

Ok, it’s not the best quality but when you consider that this is a self-released EP it’s not surprising the quality you would normally expect from a top studio is, well, missing. So, let’s put that to rest, quality of product, not great; from the first vocal note and opening line, the influence of Nirvana screams at you.

This is 100% classic grunge rock thrown down your throat at an alarming rate, the riffs, the percussions, the bass lines, it all about the early stages of the genre. I’m not talking about Smells Like Teen Spirit here, I’m talking about pure, out of the garage hard-core grunge, blended with its predecessor, Punk.

The opening track, ‘Brainsane’, is exactly what you would expect from the cross over of the to genres; the vocals are reminiscent of the late Kurt Cobaine, it’s hard to figure out if this is copying his voice or it’s the real deal from Pete Bloom. The funny just keeps coming with the names that this band brings to the forefront as ‘Scream 4 Ice Cream’ gives us a more rounded out grunge style that reminds you of Bleach where as the impressive ‘This Friend of Mine’ give you more of a Stone Temple Pilots vibe meets L7.

This leaves the punk track ‘MesS.O.S’ to finalize the EP which didn’t really give me anything concrete to say, it was traditional punk in style with little to the imagination of what that entails; that might have something to do with my taste toward Punk music but I can only give my view point.

Overall, the EP gives us a taste of yesteryear, it feels like you have gone back in time listening to the tracks and that feeling of a second-rate Nirvana keeps creeping up – don’t let that put you off though, this is a little treasure trove of homage and classic style and that can’t be just thrown to the wayside. It’s worth a listen and when you consider that the trio are advocates for the charity Mermaids UK which supports children and families especially those with gender dysphoria, you are looking at role models for the future of this community. Bravo, I doth my hat to the three of you.

Score 5/10

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