The Horrors - Night Life Review
The Horrors’ release their sixth project, laced with new sonic exploration to deliver an experience that’s both haunting and revitalizing.
The Horrors’ long-awaited sixth album release feels like an introspective, dystopian revelation of electro-punk sonics. While Strange House serves as The Horrors’ shameless child of punk-subculture, and Mercury-nominated Primary Colours their alt-indie contribution, Night Life searches deep into the hallows of the dark, scrounging up sounds of a euphoric nightmare.
Twenty years have passed since the founding of the goth-rock alchemists, and their sixth release included two new members; Amelia Kidd on the keys and Jordan Cook on the drums. Night Life acts as the flashlight in a black wood; A resurrection of all things morose, dressed head to toe in neo-psychedelia and post-punk. The Horrors have constructed a project that takes the shape of post-apocalyptic reverie; It’s dramatic, unwavering, and mysteriously bold.
“Ariel” introduces the project, and feels like the perfectly haunting appetizer for the rest of the tracks to feed off of. It dives head-first into The Horrors execution of Krautrock, utilizing deeply hypnotic movement, and electronic undertones. Its bellowing electronic synths and drowning vocals are deeply dramatic, and act as the physical testimony to the band’s departure from their early garage-born sonics.
“Silent Sister” leads our ears through a minute-long instrumental intro filled with a menagerie of The Human League electronic synths. The rather harrowing lyricism of the track is wholeheartedly complimented by the musical bed of nails the verses are laid upon. Scratchy synths, swallowing guitar, and punchy drums make for a perfect angsty rock track, fused with a perfect amount of troubled melancholy.
“The Silence That Remains” speaks in the font of Yves Tumor, a producer/contributor of Night Life. Yves and band members worked on a majority of the project in LA, eventually finalizing the album back in London/Glasgow. This track belongs in the score of a paranormal film. The contemplative, Kid A-esque intro is incredibly ominous, and contributes to the albums adherence to blend sounds both brash and soft. Picked up from the depths of the catacombs where the beat was left, Rhys Webb leads the track out of the dark with an upbeat guitar revival.
Tracks “The Feeling Is Gone” and “Lotus Eater” brush the rubble off and commence in the ethereal hues Night Life paints on its grungy canvas. “The Feeling is Gone” is a wonderful comedown from “Trial By Fire”, tapping into the same avant-rock sounds as “Ariel”. Meanwhile, “Lotus Eater” purifies the track sequence, and sounds of an evanescent echoing of a lost pop dream. This track places weight in both space and time, floating through its seven-minute time span with fluttery electronic synths and buried club beats. The band create a space where light cannot be without dark, and this forced juxtaposition continues with the final tracks. “When The Rhythm Breaks”, a near instrumental interlude with distorted vocals packed deep underneath, disrupts the contemplative dread and lights the path ahead, but immediately falls head first back into their tried and true alt-rock sonics with “LA Runaway”. It’s a glimmer of enlightenment to exit the album with.
Night Life exposes horror and illuminates ponderance. While only nine tracks and 45 minutes long, the project creates a complex soundscape, tapping into both old punk and new electro sounds. The Horrors place light and dark in a wonderfully charged conversation with one another, creating tracks that feel equally numbing as electrifying. Night Life proves that The Horrors continue to dance between genres, and do so with great success. It’s the daunting light in the night that arouses both feelings of fear, and haunting discovery.