Album Review: The Horrors – Night Life
2 min read
England’s own The Horrors have returned to our airwaves with their newest offering Night Life, after a seven-year hiatus. The band, formed in Southend-on-Sea, have taken us on somewhat of a journey with their previous six released studio albums, from the gothic garage rock of their Strange House debut in 2007 through to the more expensive synth ranges in the latter years of Skying and Luminous in 2011 and 2014, respectively, so I was excited to see where the band took us with this most recent Fiction Records release. Let’s dive right in.
We begin with Ariel, which has a lovely combination of synth and drums, with a distinct Matrix-style the mood to the track. Frankly, I loved it – couldn’t wait for more. Following track Silent Sister didn’t continue the energy of the opener, but it was more of the deep synth bass lines and gritty beats and guitar chords overlaid on top. The Silence That Remained moved the needle towards more conventional gothic garage rock, but with well-placed synths throughout the track, keeping the good feeling that the first tracks gave going on, and this move away from the electro-synth sounds continued further to Trial By Fire.
The momentum/direction of the album then switches with The Feeling is Gone to feel like a modern homage to some of the more Darkwave/Synth Noir electro of the eighties, and this modern Synth Noir theme seems to continue through to the following track Lotus Eater – the longest track on the album, which switches back to Matrix Cyberpunk Electronica/Hard Techno. Sadly, this wasn’t an indicator of the direction of the rest of the album, as More than Life returns to (less gothic) garage rock. We then switch again in penultimate track When The Rhythm Breaks which feels once more like a homage to/reboot of 1980’s electronic music, this time Berlin School/Ambient Synth! Rounding off proceedings with LA Runway we return to garage band rock.
You may have picked up on my frustrations: Night Life is less a cohesive album that flows well, and more a collection of three distinct genres produced by The Horrors, jumbled up seemingly at random. The three different genres (Garage Rock, a modern take on 1980’s slow -paced synth music, and cyberpunk electronica/industrial rock/techno/drum&bass) are fantastic in their own right – I love all three – but I don’t think they work well in the same space … the definitely don’t work in this seemingly random track order! I will have to listen again to see if any of the tracks will be added to my 2025 favourites – I’d need to look past my disappointment of what could have been three great and very different EPs in their own right smushed together to make a … frustrating … album. I’m so frustrated, I can’t even think of a witty quip to round this review off!
