The Horrors - Night Life

Some bands merely adopt the dark; The Horrors were born in it. A sense of the nocturnal has followed them right from the moment they arrived, gothic in both sound and look, with 2008’s ‘Strange House’. Ever since, twilight atmospherics have been their chief calling card, from the searing post-punk nihilism of ‘Primary Colours’ through to their last full-length, ‘V’, which was glittering but gauzy. All of which is to say that, despite a fairly radical lineup reshuffle for the first time in their history, the title of this sixth LP suggests business as usual for the band.

In truth, it is and it isn’t; the experiments in shimmering synthpop that defined ‘V’ and, to a lesser extent, 2014’s ‘Luminous’ have been shelved for the time being, with ‘Night Life’ emerging as The Horrors’ murkiest and, in places, most aggressive album since the first two. When they delve into the gloom this time around, though, they do so with a thrilling new emphasis on industrial sound and structure; ‘Downward Spiral’-era Nine Inch Nails looms heavy over the incendiary ‘Trial by Fire’, while the LP’s electronic odyssey centrepiece ‘Lotus Eater’ pulsates with a dark energy that owes a debt to Depeche Mode. Also influential, though, are the group’s contemporaries, particularly now that The Ninth Wave’s Amelia Webb has joined on keyboards; there’s a touch of that band’s penchant for the anthemic on ‘More Than Life’. Holding everything together is Faris Badwan’s cool vocal command - something which belies the fact that lyrically, ‘Night Life’ is unafraid to reckon with the violence and chaos of the present moment. He’s done some of the finest writing of his career here, on a record where The Horrors burn the midnight oil with a new intensity.