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Album Review

The Horrors Strange House
Loog Records

Article written by Ged M
Apr 4, 2007.

If they’re trying to offend or worry by subtitling the album “psychotic sounds for freaks and weirdos” they’ve failed. They’re about as scary as Marilyn Manson once you know he’s really a middle-aged male anorexic called Brian with an excellent stamp collection. The fascination with death and decay (count how many times ‘sickness’ is mentioned in the lyrics) is the stuff of EC Comics and would get quite tiresome quite fast if it weren’t for the music. Because, looking beyond their goth dandy outfits, there’s a pretty fabulous set of songs here, showing off some stylish influences: the Cramps, the Birthday Party, Link Wray, the Damned and grungy 60s garage rock (e.g. The Calico Wall and The Driving Stupid).

They’re an equally good noise band and pop band. ‘Sheena is a Parasite’ is a racing heartbeat of tortured sound, which steals ideas from the Prodigy as well as Nick Cave, while the fetish-fancying ‘Gloves’ gets progressively messier as the grand guignol horror mounts up and there’s a nice nod to the Velvet Underground’s The Gift in ‘Excellent Choice’. At the same time the B-52s-style dance riff that runs like a main vein through their take on Screaming Lord Sutch’s ‘Jack The Ripper’ suggests they’re not entombed in the 60s. ‘Count In Fives’ is super-catchy pop, driven along by Spider Webb’s Vox Continental organ – which typifies the Horrors sound - while ‘Death At The Chapel’ is pure demented garage class.

If they want to appeal to 14 year old fuckups, then fine, but there’s so much more to the Horrors than big hair and mum’s make-up. There might be some duff tracks but take the style out of the equation and you’ll find plenty of substance.

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