The One Hundred - Subculture
Having formed in 2012 after the demise of a previous band, the last two years has seen The One Hundred practice, tour and generally work to their limit to make this outlet for their music as strong as they possible could. The band are set to release their debut six track EP Subculture on September 1st and here is how it shapes up.
No FKX is the opening track to the bands EP and after an unexpected opening it goes on to explode with a combination of guitars, crashing drums and wobbles of electronics. Breed is a little more settled than the previous track, but still remains rather unfocused at times as it combines elements from a wide range of genres, some more pleasing on the ears than others (the electronic inserts). This one is loud and in your face with a combination of screams of concentrated gruff vocal tones with some rap focused vocals thrown in. Kingsmen kick starts with a building under layer of electronics and a vocal rap then moves into madness. What opened on such a strong foundation, later moves into something very confusing before reverting back to its strong foundation with the addition of some backing vocals and sounds. The entire track seems to go back and forth between these two sounds, like two tracks at times being played over each other, where one or the other would have sufficed.
Unleashed opens with a strong melody, electronics and musical elements combined together well. The vocal rap then adds another element that actually sits well with the music. As the music grows its sounds as though The One Hundred has finally hit the nail on the head and found the balance that the EP has lacked until this point. This track is actually rather catchy both musically and vocally and gets you wanting to shout along at times. Tale of Two Cities opens to high hopes after its predecessor and thankfully it was another pleasing on the ears tune. The vocals accompanied with some backing shouts at several intervals keeps things interesting while the musical elements keep things rolling in the right direction. The EP is preceded by a new single Downfall, which is the closing tune to the EP and quite a catchy tune to release to the world as an introduction to the band.
Although there are some elements that seem out of place and out of sync on the first half of the EP, the latter half is a massive improvement and signals talent in the works...watch this space!