Gig review: The Horrors

THE Horrors started life as a chaotic Cramps rip-off, regarded with suspicion and even derision.

Blatantly derivative though their gothic garage rock was, there was something appealing about their refusal to fit in to the prevailing musical landscape, and there was a desperate unpredictability to their shows.

But those days are gone. Now some of the band members don't even dress all in black any more.

Acceptance has come through conformity: The Horrors of today are just another dreary indie rock band taking their navel-gazing sound terribly seriously.

The mix and acoustics at this show suggested that that sound consisted of muddy bass, muffled keyboard, thudding drums, with effects-laden guitar poking through from time to time and slightly portentous vocals from frontman Faris Badwan which call to mind Richard Butler of The Psychedelic Furs.

This brooding recipe was fashioned into extended jams or mantras which were diverting enough on the occasions when the band powered through on the crest of a driving bassline, as on the climactic throbbing Krautrock-influenced odyssey Sea Within a Sea.

More often though, they ground out the same old ingredients indulgently, ending on a new track Still Life, which dragged its heels before reaching an artificially horn-enhanced climax.

Still, they couldn't be accused of outstaying their welcome. Returning to the stage to round out the set to a thin hour, they filled the time effectively with what The Psychedelic Furs might have referred to as an extended 12-inch mix of pulsing indie electro.