Nothing new but nothing bad.
On the album cover, four fifths of The Horrors are bedecked in black with a gleaming white polo neck being the only deviation. Their eyeliner looks immaculate and the hair...well....The Horrors' hair and the associated hairspray and lacquer that has been used to create their look has recently been classified as the chief reason for the greenhouse effect and when the band disbands, the planet will revert to a sustainable temperature and life as we know it, will continue for thousands of generations.
Let's be honest, that's what reviews of The Horrors seem to be about, don't they?
Any time when a band gets more written about for what they look like, what they have to say or who they are scrapping with as opposed to their music, then it's never a good sign. History is littered with Sigue Sigue Sputniks, Gay Dads and, oh yes, The Towers of Londons whose imprint on musical history is consigned to the chip wrappers before they really got going. With this backdrop, it's a relief to finally hear some of The Horrors output and their debut record 'Strange House' is a peculiar beast and maybe not what you were expecting at all. It turns out that these five people are musicians! You would think that someone in the music press would have mentioned this point before now?
Opening with a cover of 'Jack The Ripper', which has been known to pepper White Stripes shows is quite a daring start but fits with the music and image perfectly and is a fairly decent effort ushering in new listeners with a (slight) sense of the familiar. Previous single 'Count In Fives' follows on and the initial one-two on the album is rather good. It's a dark and murky song, full of suspicion...with an initial keyboard riff that sounds like early Prodigy. Yep, these so-called Goth kids are capable of mixing it up with a dance edge and you start to realise that the myths and hype about The Horrors has been damaging with regards to their musical landscape.
Yes, this record is scratchy and has a raw edge to it and sure, the influences may be immediately akin to The Cramps or the type of band who references American B-movies as inspiration but there's a deeper well here. Lead singer Faris Rotter has a venomous and cynical delivery close to Mark E Smith and the bass-lines throughout evoke Sonic Youth and their incessant rumblings and in 'Excellent Choice', The Horrors have conjured up the modern equivalent of The Velvet Undergrounds 'The Gift.'
With a paraphrase of The Ramones titles with 'Sheena Is A Parasite' (and there is a punk speed and passion through the middle of the record) this is a band who know their rock history and have pulled in a lot of references and history. Perhaps the fashion tip was just a ruse to put us off the scent of the musical steals here and there, perhaps they've seen that the best bands merged a look and sound to make the most impact or perhaps The Horrors are actually a good and interesting band in their own right. That's possibly a theory that hasn't been floated too often and if in six months time it comes out that its all been a fraud then theres going to be some people who will have to hold their hands up and say "yeah, got that one wrong. Sorry."
'Strange House' is nothing new, it's not going to change the world, it's not going to sell an excessive amount of records and it will probably slip down your listening pecking order in comparison to the records that influenced it but you know what, at this moment in time, it's a fantastic rock n roll effort and that's good enough for now.
We'll discuss its proper impact at the end of the year, see you then and happy listening.