You remember The Horrors? Those kooky, anorexic-looking guys from the UK who came out a couple of years ago and won the hearts of countless Hot Topic girls and other swooning soon-to-be-obsessed-with-Twilight tweenies? They had it all - ridiculous hair, legs the width of my wrist, and the fanbase. The only thing they were missing was good songs. Seriously, they were a pretty vacuous band in terms of actual songs, so when I was told at SXSW that their sophomore album Primary Colours was actually brilliant, I found it pretty hard to believe.
Well, since then, I've gotten the album (out in May), and I have to say - it's fucking great. To say that a band has matured from the first album to the second can be pretty cliche, but it's never been more appropriate with The Horrors, although the production from Geoff of Portishead may have helped. The album is slower-paced than their first and, somehow, that makes it all the more intense. It's brooding, dark, and is one of the better albums released this year so far. There's hints of Jesus and Mary Chain et al, The Cramps, The Cure, and all of those wonderful bands that your eyeliner-wearing guy friends listen to, and perhaps you too. It even comes complete with eight-minute long epic "Sea Within A Sea," with video and MP3 below.
