Review Summary: A flawed, yet very good album from a band who inject originality and life into the modern day rock scene.
The Horrors are one of those bands that are frequently described as a ‘victory of style over substance’, and have attracted much hostility from the public for what they wear (singer Faris Rotter had his nose broken by a delightful hooligan for apparently ‘looking like a girl’). Now if I was a NME journalist, or for that matter most other music critic, I would continue to blister on about their clothes and give little insight to their music, but I’d quite like to focus on the music, thank you.
Opener ‘Jack the Ripper’, a song from the back catalogue of Screaming Lord Sutch, is quite a strange opener as its slow paced bass riff and drum beat don’t particularly grab the ears and force you to listen, the song loses points too because its not actually their song, I’m a firm believer that albums should have entirely original material on, with the exception of live albums, B-side compilations etc. That said, its still a good song and does pick up near the end, but in my opinion it shouldn’t be on the album or if they had to, they should have put the version of it from ‘The Horrors EP’, which is played at twice the speed and is much more exciting.
‘Count in Fives’ in comparison, with its ghoul punk wall of noise, is brilliant. It firmly sticks to the rule of 3(chords) that punk bands use in a lot of their songs and the combination of the keyboard and guitar on the verses are particularly impressive.
Next up is ‘Draw Japan’. It has a very surf flavour to its verses, particular heard in Tomethy De Forse’s bass lines and Coffin Joe’s drumming. Admittedly it’s a song that needs a few listens, but its really good and is also a song that highlights each band member’s importance, as each instrument can be heard clearly and has its own distinct role to play to make a song.
‘Gloves’ is another success with Joshua Thirds guitar and keyboardist Spider Webb’s lines linking brilliantly together on the intro and chorus.
‘Excellent Choice’ is a song with something really special, as you can listen to it in three ways. You can choose to listen to the music, while letting the spoken word verses fly over your head; you can listen to what’s being said on the verses, which tell of a man called Morgan, who is dissatisfied with his life and family “Morgan feels that his family have made a conscious decision to make his life a misery” and takes action (I won’t ruin the end of the story by telling you); and you can listen to both combined. Either way, it’s a great song and is really clever the way a story is told. Faris Rotters very few lines in the song also link with the story “Well I don’t want to question, your decision”, but as I said, I’m not going to spoil the plot for you so I cant say how it links (that’s not a cop out, if you’re wondering)!
Approximate halfway point ‘Little Victories’ is monumental, with keyboards and bass menacingly prowling around vocals and drums, with noodling guitar fleeting in and out, it should stay in the mind for a while- it did in mine anyway.
The groove laden ‘She is the New Thing’ is similarly fantastic, with a brilliant verse riff used on keyboard and guitar and a soaring chorus.
‘Sheena is a parasite’ arguably their most well known song, kicks off with a rave like drumbeat, which mutates into a verse with Rotters almost scream-rap (now THERES a combination) vocals over the top, with the chorus like a sonic electric shock, “SHEENA IS A PARASITTTTE/SHEENA IS A PARASITE/SHEENA IS A PARASITTE” the whole thing lasts just under two minutes and its such a refreshing thing to hear in a scene awash with bloated, bratty pop stars and idiots like Paris Hilton and X-Factor contestants attempting music.
‘Thunderclaps’ ensures the high standard of the music is maintained with surf influences shining through again, and Rotters menacing vocals. I love the fact that the chorus has no words, just a refrain of “AHH AHH AH/AHH AH AHA AH”.
Momentum slows down a bit on ‘Gil Sleeping’, a directionless, vocal free jam and closer ‘A Train Roars’, which isn’t bad but doesn’t seem to go anywhere. But I don’t want to focus on the lags too much so I’ll leave it to you to make your mind up about those two songs.
There is a bonus track on the UK version of the album, entitled ‘Death at the chapel’. It’s a sharp blast of punk rock that should really be on the standard track listing; it’s bloody fantastic.
It does have a few faults that could have been eradicated, but all in all ‘Strange House’ is a big success. It’s just so refreshing to hear this kind of music being made, in a scene of Libertines copyists and emo clones, they really do stand out with their unique brand of organ fed punk rock.
This kind of music will cause hatred or love, which is also refreshing. I am of the latter. In a way it is a shame though, because this album should be in a lot of people’s record collection for its uniqueness and because of the quality of the songs also. If you were to buy this album, I also strongly recommend you to buy tickets to see them live; they put on an incredible show.
I think after hearing this album parallels can be made between their dress style and music; they’re very different, very good and are likely to split opinion- like all the best bands do (whoops, I mentioned the clothes! Im just trying to be clever!)
I have a theory that The Horrors are hyped as style over substance because they’re not a jeans and t-shirt band and attract criticism because they look different, which is something that unfortunately Britain in 2007 does. But The Horrors will rise above, because there is nothing like them now, and they have to be at least appreciated for that, and at the most worshipped for injecting originality and life into the music scene.
