Let us set the scene. We’re in East London; it’s 2007 and we find ourselves unhappily-locked in the grip of a hellish, faux-bohemian sterility. The majority of Western youth has been assimilated into a terrible Radio-2-friendly, coffee-supping nightmare and the once-sacred divide between teenager and parent has been well and truly trampled into a mire of coffee table banality.

 

Meanwhile, single-handedly dragging the ‘punk ethic’ kicking and screaming from a terrible, bloated retirement in Top Shop, one record has attempted to musically resurrect the spirit of Jack the Ripper, sharpen his scalpels and set him loose upon the swinish hipster masses. Here children, is a dark power to be both treasured and feared. Here are The Horrors and they have come to seriously disturb your parents.

 

Indeed; in a glorious rekindling of a near-forgotten familial tradition, the words ‘what the hell is that awful noise?’ will no doubt be exploding with exhilarating regularity from many a horrified ‘grown up’s’ open mouth the moment their offspring play them this eardrum-offending debut from everyone’s new favourite guitar-wielding gothic goblins. Thank goodness. 

Much has already been made of The Horror’s dramatic gothic ‘image’ (described by Q as ‘Victorian undertaker drag’). Obviously having read a little too much Edgar Alan Poe in sun-starved rooms while drunkenly applying eye-liner with huge, comedy-sized brushes, The Horrors certainly look like a revolution, but what of these claims that the album has ‘more tunes than you’d think’?  

Happily, on listening, Strange House lives up to expectations. There’s no denying of The Horrors are an acquired taste; one quick burst of grinding, feedback and many precious souls still softened by the saccharine embrace of alt-country, the new acoustic movement (if one can call it that) and more recently, electro-pop, will be reaching for the eject button. But that’s the point.

Strange House certainly doesn’t make for easy listening. Opening track 'Jack the Ripper' for example, is one of the most caustic of the entire record. Like a gigantic, lumbering beast awakening from sleep, it begins like a low, disgruntled growl before launching into a frantic, feedback-drenched frenzy. Theatrically ‘nasty’ lead vocals from anarchic frontman Faris Rotter are backed by blood-curdling screams for three minutes of mayhem before the whole track finally descends into a fantastic, bloody finish.  

'Count in Fives', the title track from The Horrors’ 2006 three track EP, introduces Spider Webb’s huge, swirling antique organ effects that will form an integral part of their sound. It’s a tense, claustrophobic tune; bass guitar, organ and drums working together as they do for much of the record to create a relentless, driving rhythm. 'Draw Japan' and recent single 'Gloves' continue in the same vein, utilising brilliant production (helped by Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and expertly managed atmospherics to create a clutch of genuinely engaging and enduring tunes.  

Strange House is the perfect antidote to the recent proliferation of overblown, Americanised emo; a scathing blend of genuine punk influences with nods to Birthday Party, The Cramps, The Damned and even The Fall. The Horrors have already been accused of being overly derivative, of lacking in substance and being unable to stretch the boundaries of their sound (a little harsh considering this is their debut perhaps?). We will accuse them of just one thing: making a bloody good album. - Isaac Howlett



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