I have to confess: I was a teenage Goth girl. I snuck fishnet stockings inside my schoolbag to change into in the bathroom while the bad girls smoked cigarettes. I smoked cloves and was thrilled by the Bauhaus reunion tour (this was before Coachella). The punk rock kids laughed at me, and the hipsters still do. But apparently I will have the last laugh.
Ladies and gentlemen, Goth is back. Not just the indie-rock obsession with the Cure and the Smiths or Pete Wentz and Davey Havok’s ‘guy-liner.’ I mean full-on theatrical, teased-haired, organ-infused Goth rock. The Horrors throw back to the Bauhaus at their most anarchic and crazed, thrashing and snarling and rocking like the good old days at the Limelight.
And you’re going to love it.
The first track sneaks up on you with an ominous drone and then abruptly speeds up to the breakneck pace of the rest of the record. There’s a consistent beat to most of the songs, but the histrionics of singer Faris Badwan and the horror-movie creep of the guitars will have you dancing in your seat.
The standout track for me was the “Horror’s Theme,” with its gypsyish swing that should have its own dance steps. There’s also a twisted Ramones shout-out, “Sheena is a Parasite,” with an even more twisted video that you can see on their website, and a great description of obsession comes in “She Is The New Thing,” where Faris Badwan chants “Once she had me on my knees/Enamored with disease.”
I don’t know if I’d call them the future of British rock, but I definitely can’t wait for the live show.
www.thehorrors.co.uk
www.myspace.com/thehorrors
www.stolentransmission.com
