Horrifyingly Good
Remember when The Horrors were a grimey goth band with a chaotic DIY mentality? It seems that those days are far gone and the band have turned over a new leaf and seen the light, and it was golden and psychedelic and swayed to the beat of a tambourine.
Opener, ‘Mirror’s Image’ blows away any of your preconceptions about the band with its deep, resonating vocals, crashing percussion and perfectly poised guitars and synths. It’s a glorious mix of edgy, metallic noise and hypnotic melodies, all held together by captivating vocals.
‘Who Can Say’ is a fierce, dirty slice of scuzzy psychedelic rock that rocks you to the core with a brazen rhythm section, enlaces you in swirling, bright organ melodies and then shakes you with a beautiful tambourine enhanced confessional section. Before you have a chance to say, “wow”, the next punchy riff kicks in and you’re off on another spectral voyage with the chiming guitars and epic, ragged vocals of ‘Do You Remember’. There’s a barely a mediocre song on this album with Jesus and Mary Chain, The Psychedelic Furs and Brian Eno being given a nod at every twist and turn, yet The Horrors also have a definite unique quality about them. The band’s influences will undoubtedly be drawn out in every review but it’s not who has inspired you, but how you’ve acted in the inspiration that counts and The Horrors seem to have effortlessly blended their inspirations into their own style, which now comes across as mature and defined.
‘Ice Age’ is a boisterous, enigmatic tune that makes the most of Faris Badwan’s charismatic and slightly unhinged vocals that almost have the gravitas of a latter day Ian Curtis about them. The epic single, ‘Sea Within A Sea’ has already attracted plenty of attention; it comprises of 8 minutes of ebbing and flowing melodies and blissful sweeping synth riffs.
I never thought I’d hear myself say that I liked The Horrors; their previous work felt thoroughly like a case of style over substance but ‘Primary Colours’ is an album that wows you from the first track and can’t fail to pull you in. This is undoubtedly the surprise success story of the year so far.