V
While evolving from the feral roar of 2007 debut *Strange House* toward the saucer-eyed dance rock of 2014’s *Luminous*, The Horrors have often sculpted sharp pop tunes. Their fifth album fully embraces those melodic instincts while exploring the possibilities offered by mixing psychedelia, rock, and synth-pop with their gothic otherness. The results are disparate and gripping, from “Machine”’s grinding urgency to the woozy swagger of “Press Enter to Exit.” Finale “Something to Remember Me By” is the towering peak of their most assured album to date, evoking Balearic-period New Order with its yearning fusion of house and synth-pop.
On their fifth album, the Horrors retool their formula for retro-leaning, riff-laden arena rock in an attempt to reconnect with the “unsettling” spirit of their garage-rock roots.
The first time I ever saw The Horrors, frontman Faris Badwan threw garbage at me. It was an apt metaphor for what the band was doing in those days: Early singles like “Sheena Is A Parasite” and a cover of Screaming Lord Sutch’s “Jack The Ripper” were writhing, germy gobs hocked into that mid-’00s spate of British…
The Horrors are hardly new to making brilliant albums - they did that with their previous three - but V is better than them all.
For their next trick, Southend quintet the Horrors reimagine themselves as gloomy Eighties stadium fillers.
After self-producing 2014's Luminous, the Horrors worked with Paul Epworth, a producer renowned for his big sound, on their follow-up V. While the band's fifth album sounds expectedly stadium-sized, bringing another pair of ears into the fold seems to have pushed the Horrors to make the biggest changes to their music since Primary Colours.
V sees The Horrors return to the abrasive noise they flirted with in their early days.
First is the cult following that have been devoted to the charismatic group from its Ramones-esque beginnings.
After the release of debut LP ‘Strange House’, The Horrors underwent a significant transformation. Gone were the days of the gothic punk
The fifth album from The Horrors, the follow-up to 2014's 'Luminous', lacks the urgency of early efforts like 'Primary Colours'.
Against the odds, the Horrors’ fifth album is their best yet, with Faris Badwan’s commanding, world-weary vocals adding to the synthesised thrills and sparkling guitar-pop <br>
The Horrors continue to evolve toward a more structured electro-rock outfit.
Giving their darkness an extra production polish proves a good thing for Southend's finest. CD New Music review by Javi Fedrick