REVIEW: The Horrors - Skying

The Horrors
Skying
(XL Recordings)
½ (out of 5)

Originally panned as being nothing more than a novelty band with silly names, this post punk flavoured five piece from Essex answered their critics with the brilliant, Portishead-assisted sophomore album Primary Colours.

And now, with their third long player Skying, they’ve proven that allowing time for artist development is still very much money well spent. The album’s title soon makes sense as the opener ‘Changing The Rain’ takes to the air and swoops in like a B-52 readying up a bomb run with rumbling bass anchoring the effect-drenched arrangement. Creating a specific atmosphere is clearly the goal throughout, as the Horrors morph the influences of the Psychedelic Furs, Echo and the Bunnymen, Simple Minds and Joy Division into their repertoire, amazingly managing to do so without sounding contrived; not an easy task in the current eighties-raped musical environment.

Adding even more to their growing credibility is the fact that they’ve done away with having a ‘name’ producer in favour of the DIY approach. There are unexpected moments, like on ‘I Can See Through You’, which fools us into thinking we’re going to be subjected to a 70s space opera before a wall of menacing goodness feeds the ears. And the outro on ‘Wild Eyed’ plays out with brass à la Present Arms-era UB40. Skying is generally a moody affair though, as you hear on tracks like the brooding epic ‘Oceans Burning’, with its vintage Bowie meets Pink Floyd aesthetics.

Even the most uplifting tracks on this set sport a certain drugged out darkness, and that’s a good thing.
 

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By Matt Ruys