The Horrors - Sounds from Outer Space Album Review

The Horrors

Sounds from Outer Space

Album Review

The Horrors, and let's not beat around the bush here, are a bit rubbish aren't they? At the risk of making myself extremely unpopular, I have to say that two chords and a bit of listless grunting do not a good band make. That said, behind the big, hairy façade there is evidence of a healthy DIY spirit, as this compilation shows.

This is a limited edition CD/fanzine that was available on their NME tour earlier this year, featuring tracks selected by keyboardist Spider Webb.

There are some interesting cuts on here, most of them from a very different cloth indeed; Rob Freeman and The Blue Men's "I Hear a New World" is particularly bizarre, mixing an MOR crooner with woozy chipmunk vocals to disorientating effects.

It is possible to hear where the band draw their influences from on here, Spectrum's "Feels Like I'm Slippimg Away" is a creepy treat with its 50's B-movie theremin tones, which are replicated on many of the Horrors' rackets, and elsewhere, Paul St.John's "Spaceship Lover" suggests they didn't get all their camp from Rocky Horror.

If you'd have told me that I'd enjoy a concept album about space, compiled by a member of one of the most unjustly hyped bands of all time, I'd have had you flogged. However, I did enjoy Sounds from Outer Space, so it's a good job you didn't.

Ben Davis