The Horrors
Strange House

THE REVIEW

The new garage phenomenon from the UK is called The Horrors.

For some months now, the five youngsters have been dominating the covers of various magazines (NME above all). And it couldn't have been otherwise, considering they are sponsored by James Oldham (Patrick Wolf is in his stable), the boss of Loog and for years an editor at NME. Seeing them on the cover of "Strange House," their debut album, they really look like the Addams family, with plenty of makeup plastered on their faces.

Beyond the English Channel, they weren't so used to this kind of controlled orgy, this deluge of spastic guitars, schizophrenic screams, and all this rampage of distorted and tribal sounds, miles and miles away from the usual polished and necktied riff-raff of Franz Kaiser Bloc and various emulators following in their wake. The Horrors might be the most original and least British (yet still English) offering we've been allowed to listen to in some time.

Tracks like "Jack The Ripper", "Sheena is A Parasite", "Gil Sleeping", "Gloves", and "Excellent Choise" confirm what was described above: ragged and irresistible sound, hallucinated and engaging. Rotten, yes, but still branded, like the ink, black and indelible, that stains the pages of the glossy magazines hosting them, to feed them to the tribes of music-eating cannibals painted like them, black eyeliner and evening mascara, standard attire at college, university, or bank.