More about: The Horrors
Like being locked in the Camden CyberDog store while tripping on acid (in a good way)
Throughout their career, The Horrors have consistently changed up their sound. This has coalesced into a fantastic and distinctive discography, resulting in the band being one of the most reliably unpredictable acts doing it at the moment. Whether it was the gothic, garage punk of Strange House, the shoegaze and krautrock inspired Primary Colours or the arena-ready anthems of the decent Skying (and less decent Luminous), The Horrors have never seemed satisfied with just one genre.
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2017’s V was yet another shift in sound, taking elements of synth-pop and 80s industrial to create a bright and futuristic set of songs, but while some of the songs on V could have soundtracked an optimistic, moneyless post-cyberpunk future, The Horrors latest EP Lout is like being locked in the CyberDog store in Camden while tripping on acid and reliving all the terrible choices that lead you to that point. It’s the aural equivalent of that scene in Blade, where the blood comes from the sprinklers and all the vampires go mad for it. Suffice to say it’s one of the best things The Horrors have ever done.
With Lout, The Horrors made a conscious effort to make a set of brutal and loud songs: “It’s the nastiest music we've made since Strange House. An intense barrage of industrial noise. A return to the spirit and attitude of our debut LP but blasted into the future’’ says bassist Rhys Webb. He's hit the nail on the head.
The title track opens the EP with a Godflesh-meets-Perturbator stomp. A scuzzy, violent but very danceable beat propels the track while singer Faris Badwan’s vocal chants sound almost mechanical, better to illustrate the nightmare future the band find themselves in. Second track, the instrumental ‘Org’ while not necessarily being the most original track, goes all in on the electronic influences to stunning effect, sounding at points like a bizarro world Prodigy. Like a lot of The Horrors’ material, Lout wears its influences on its sleeve, and ultimately, the EP does those influences justice. Closing track ‘Whiplash’ is heavily indebted to the likes of Nine Inch Nails and dystopian 90s industrial, culminating in a horrific but incredibly satisfying orgy of noise.
On Lout, The Horrors yet again prove that they are impossible to be pinned down, and it’s exciting to look forward to what they can achieve with another new sound.
Lout EP arrives 12 March via Wolf Tone Records.
More about: The Horrors
Photo: Press
