The Horrors Strange House Loog, 2007 amazon

I was never a huge fan of the Cramps, despite my fascination with the cover of Bad Music for Bad People (introduced to me by Christian Slater's t-shirt in Gleaming the Cube). Even when i finally heard their actual music, i liked the hooks of songs like "Garbage Man" but wasn't entranced enough to keep returning to them. The gothabilly look and especially sound, swathed in bursts of organ and grimy vocals and overdriven guitars, appealed to me but failed to earn an appreciable portion of my attention. Flash forward to late 2006, when i first saw the mildly disturbing Chris Cunningham video for "Sheena is a Parasite" on MTV2. While strobe-lit scenes of an alien-like creature bursting through a convulsing Samantha Morton played out, a band dressed entirely in black with unkempt black mops and loads of eye shadow disinterestedly supplied the backing track, a two note bass line with guitar and organ highlights, led by rambling talk-sing vocals. The Horrors' debut single garnered much attention from the UK indie power makers, while leaving many music fans wondering if this was yet another band who had succeeded in the business because they chose their friends wisely and not because of any great musical talent. Goth-infused punk with a healthy dose of camp is their motto, and they certainly adhere to this strategy ... band members include such wonderful names as Spider Webb, Joshua Von Grimm, and Coffin Joe. I was particularly keen on the song, but couldn't rule out the latter possibility. After months of hype the band's debut album Strange House was released last week. And to be sure, it's not a record that will bowl you over by its raw brilliance. It draws heavily from a multitude of gothic pioneers. Besides the aforementioned Cramps, Bauhaus is another key reference point. "Excellent Choice" reeks of the classic "Departure" in its off-kilter spoken word delivery, while "Gil Sleeping" borrows more than a few tricks from David J and Daniel Ash. The tone of the album is as expected, being populated by tracks that are reminiscent of B-horror movies from the sixties. The organ from "Thunderclaps" seems drawn straight out of an episode of the Addams Family. It's a shame that the record doesn't include their interesting cover of the Syndicats classic "Crawdaddy Simone". However for all its flaws (or perhaps because of its flaws), the raucous noise of Strange House provides a charming distraction for 40 minutes. While some will deride that the Horrors revel in pointless indulgences and shameless plagiarism, i'll give them credit for doing something distinct from the scores of Brit rock clone bands, even if that something isn't entirely their own. I certainly enjoy listening to frontman Faris Badwan repeatedly scream "Sheena is a parasite!".

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