The Horror, The Horror!

Over the past week, The Horrors' full-length Strange House: Psychotic Sounds for Freaks and Weirdos [Loog Records BOOO892902] has been a steady resident of the cd player. It's good; very, very good. That wasn't a surprise after hearing their debut EP which I wrote about here.

Their 'hit' Sheena is a Parasite is included, as is the Screaming Lord Sutch & the Savages cover, Jack the Ripper. There's nine more tracks with not a dud among them. Horrors' Theme ranks as the catchiest with the pulsating Silver Apples-esque Gil Sleeping being a surprising inclusion.

The sound harkens back to the sixties lo-tech DIY spook rock of Joe Meek. That's an influence that opens sonic possibilities. Hell, what else is there? Marilyn Manson? I should hope not.

Excellent Choices

I must admit that I was initially put off by The Horrors' big-haired goth look. But the fact that these kids dropped the names of cult favourites like Joe Meek, The Silver Apples and the like in interviews and have been known to cover The Sonics' "The Witch" in concert prompted an investigation. So off to the record shop to purchase a copy of their self-titled CD EP [Loog B0004401-02] because, as hard to believe as it is, I do enjoy some music recorded in the last twenty-five years. In the player it went and their sound grabbed me and tossed me to the ground. For once the hype is right: The Horrors produce seriously great garage rock. No kidding.

The disc has five tracks in total: three originals "Death at the Chapel", "Sheena is a Parasite" and "Excellent Choice" and two covers (and this is where the Joe Meek connection comes in) The Syndicats' "Crawdaddy Simone" and Screamin' Lord Sutch's "Jack the Ripper". All the tracks have the raw immediacy of 60's garage punk right down to Spider Webb's Vox Continental.

Their full length album Strange House is due in March. I, for one, am looking forward to it.

Click on the link below for their Sheena is a Parasite video. The video is also on the cd, by the way, but my steam-powered PC refused to play it.