Yahoo! Music Review

Released on 05/03/07
Label: Loog Records

In the run-up to this debut album's release, there seemed to be a Horrors backlash brewing. A rumour abounded that the band had only six songs and needed their producer to finish writing the album. Meanwhile a new wave of thuggish lad-rock bands (The Fratellis, The Automatic) lined-up to take a pop at these raffish Southenders. All that gushing early press coverage was going to come at a price, it seemed. Fortunately "Strange House" makes quick work of allaying our fears. If The Horrors are a manufactured band, who's manufacturing them, and can we have some more please?

The record opens with a slow, grinding version of Screaming Lord Sutch's "Jack The Ripper", one familiar to anyone who's caught a recent live show. It twitches with menace and neatly establishes a tone and a standard that sustains through "Count In Fives", the finest of The Horrors' singles to date. Still, there's a sharp intake of breath when that tune winds up, because the next one, we see, represents the album's first brand-new composition. "Draw Japan", then, is the pivotal moment: has The Horrors' well run dry in the face of endless fashion shoots and celebrity endorsements, or do we have serious contenders on our hands?

The answer comes back swiftly. A thrilling blend of '60s surf rock and '70s punk, "Draw Japan" has been described by singer Faris Badwan as a song that "seems to take every influence we have and distil it down into one utterly bizarre three-and-a-half minute pop song", yet it sounds utterly fresh. Herein lies the beauty of this band: geeky record collectors they may be, but they're quick to impose their feral energy and fierce individuality on proceedings. Serious contenders it is, then.

Very fine b-side "A Knife In Their Eyes" has, notably, been left off the album because it's a top-to-bottom rip-off of an old Monks tune and there's plenty worth its place. Even looking beyond proven singles "Gloves", "Death At The Chapel" and "Sheena Is A Parasite" (hugely effective surges of garage-rock nastiness), we find the likes of "She Is The New Thing", a harmony-laden nursery rhyme that proves hugely disquieting, like some modern-day "Ring-a-Ring-a Roses". Then there's "Excellent Choice", the first song The Horrors ever wrote, here elevated to greatness by dint of an eerie spoken-word section.

"Thunderclaps" proves The Horrors can write anthems; "A Train Roar" reveals an aptitude for epic slow-burners. The only thing the band can't do is instrumentals: "Gil Sleeping" seems an attempt to establish muso credentials, and that's the very last thing we expect or need from this band. While we're nitpicking, "Little Victories" (mooted as the next single) falls a little short of previous singles' gold standard. Still, on balance, The Horrors have delivered in spades here, and provided a much-needed alternative to the burgeoning nu-rave and thug-indie scenes while they're at it. And what's that you say - they look great too? Cancel the backlash.

    by Niall O'Keeffe