Tag Archives: The Horrors

Review: The Horrors, Leadmill, September 30th

Some of you may have read my less than favourable review on the new album from The Horrors (Luminous) and how I had concluded that I was sincerely hopeful that the gig would make at least some kind of impression.

Well… although I still am yet to be even slightly moved by their latest effort, the new tracks gave a relatively enjoyable “hold music” while I waited for their better tracks.

The Leadmill was absolutely busting at the seams and even when I found myself at times less than enamoured there were a considerable amount of people that clearly were. Despite a slightly awkward amount of interference, there is no denying that the group as a whole delivered a fairly wonderful performance.

My appreciation was given mostly to the Primary Colours tracks (Scarlet Fields, A Sea within a Sea etc.) which just had much more energy and substance to them than the new songs which, as I say, felt more as if they acted as interlude music until the next “proper” track was played.

As the Horrors have gradually appeared to have toned things down since Strange House (the album that nobody talks about) it may very well be possible that I was expecting just something a little more exciting and perhaps shouldn’t have been. I understand that there comes a time for a band to mature or perhaps even explore a new path, it is just unfortunate that for me, The Horrors have lost a lot of their uniqueness and magic along the way.

The Horrors – Luminous review

Fantastic, I thought, finally a new Horrors album for me to sink my teeth into, writes Jade Knox.

Having first heard the band in 2008, a year after they had brought out their garage punk style album Strange House, I had a feeling that this was the start of something glorious and continued to follow them on their musical journey.

Strange House was perfectly timed for me as that was exactly the genre I was exploring and I thoroughly enjoyed the slightly darker image of the band. With their Chelsea boots and incredible hair they brought such personality to the table at the time when nothing similar to this was really knocking about.

Gradually, over time, the group lost the look and seemed to settled for simple leather jackets and I supposed for Primary Colours and Skying I was relatively happy, they had calmed down, and so had my teen angst, so I appreciated the move to something a just a little more mellow than ‘Jack The Ripper’.

Now, on to Luminous… Well, I may have gotten older but I’m not in my eighties yet. I was SO disappointed listening to this album, the moment the first track kicked in I felt I knew what was going to happen. Songs seemed to plod along one after the other with no great enthusiasm. I can appreciate a slower more ambient track, ‘I Only Think of You’ is my all-time favourite but it’s a long shot from dull which is genuinely how I felt about the majority of this release. There was a time for me that when I heard The Horrors I would jump out of my seat and dance; songs such as ‘Scarlet Fields’ and ‘Monica Gems’ from ‘Primary Colours’ and ‘Skying’ respectively but in the case of Luminous, there was not so much of a foot tap.

I am not completely writing this album off for everyone, if you had not really followed the group from the start and this is where you are starting then maybe it will seem much more impressive. I could definitely use it to study with as nothing about it is particularly distracting or it could be a good method if you are having trouble sleeping. Some magic has definitely been lost somewhere along the road to this album for me and I don’t know whether this has been a conscious decision by the band or whether someone else may be pulling some strings to get these fellas more and more mainstream.

Hopefully when I see the band on 30/09/2014 at the lovely Leadmill the live performance may add a little bit of substance or passion that I’ve not found simply listening to the album.