Tuesday, December 27, 2011

The Horrors Go Skying


Wow...The Horrors have come such a long way since their hair parting ways at the beginning of the century. Gone is the scenester posing, the hair product, plastered hair, and semi-gothic dress sense. It's been replaced by a creative, thriving band that's left the scene behind and gone on their own journey where music is key. As a result their latest album, Skying, is a swirly and moody record that's dramatic and darkly delicious and the best thing they've ever done.

Sounding something like the Psychedelic Furs gone shoegazing, much of Skying is an ethereal hazy affair whose songs are like wispy vapor trails from the heavens. Listening to this record it’s so incredibly obvious that The Horrors have matured as a band and by doing so matured into one amazing group of musicians. As if to prove the point, the songs here are mesmerizing and emotional, slightly downtrodden and depressed but gothicly beautiful. The band has wrapped their songs in a black shroud of distortion, ghostly vocals, and haunting melodies. It's these elements and great songs that lift this record from the graveyard, where The Horrors once dwelled, to the stage where songs like these belong.

Skying is a very good record by a band that continues to impress. These darklings are constantly becoming more and more complex musicians and it's reflected in each song here. They mix the dark with the light and come up with something worth listening to repeatedly. To think that The Horrors were once the butt of more jokes than Rodney Dangerfield seems incredible now. While they won me over on their last album, they've made me a fan with this one and I'm not afraid, or even ashamed, to say that. Take that Faris Rotter!

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