The Horrors - Skying

(XL)

Did someone replace the light bulbs in The Horrors’ recording studio? Have they started taking multi-vitamins? Something uplifting has happened to what was previously Britain’s blackest band. And, unfortunately, it’s blunted their edge. The first three and a half tracks of Skying are a disappointingly limp mix of baggy grooves, brass orchestration and the sort of chorus lines that Coldplay would consider, and then reject. Three and a half tracks because, midway through ‘Endless Blue’ they start playing their instruments properly again – wigging out with a momentum that carries them through to the album’s haunting, psychedelic highlight, ‘Still Life’. Nevertheless, The Horrors should be making painfully dark, fiercely unique music, not this sort of ubiquitous retro pop nonsense. Trends come and go, but black never goes out of fashion.