The Horrors, New Century. 28th November 2025.

The Horrors I feel are a misunderstood band. When they first appeared, goth was not cool, they stood out when standing out wasn’t welcomed. They divided opinion. Then after some time, they went underground, then away altogether. Their return has been a slow burn, but an increasingly confident one. They’re still shrouded in gothic overtones, but it’s now blistered with cinematic electro punk muscle. The gloom decends as they begin with ‘The Silence That Remains’. The lighting kept dark as he bleak fury detonates from the stage. Badwan’s deep vocal defying his skinny frame as the bass tumbles and the synths cut through like splintered glass dragged over jagged concrete. ‘Three Decades’ is punkier, faster, fucking fast in fact. It’s new wave artrock bathed in blood red spotlights, that owes a not inconsiderable amount to Bauhaus, with Badwan now shrieking his vocal. ‘Mirror Image’ builds with a sequencer that gives it an air of an 80s anthem. The kind of thing that would get used in a John Hughes movie. This is something The Horrors do very well. A far cry from that first record, of which there’s no sign tonight. Despite the bloke behind me shouting for ‘Sheena is a Parasite’ whenever there’s quiet between songs. They all look cool as fuck, effortlessly lounging into the industrial shrill of ‘Silent Sister’. Stick some buzzsaw on this and you’d have some early NIN. The drums sound deadly, but not overpowering, in fact the sound is really well balanced. There’s a lot of influences here from Marilyn Manson at his best to Depeche Mode at their darkest, they wear it proudly and they sound absolutely fantastic. Things slow down for ‘The Feeling is Gone’ giving Badwan chance to finally stand still and lean moodiliy over the mic. He’s been putting a shift in, prowling and throwing himself around as the guitars do the same. This is a lovely moment, sombre of course, but still powerful. ‘Sea Within A Sea’ gets introduced as from the river to the sea, which is met with stoney silence. I think audiences are bored of such statements. It was the same at My Bloody Valentine last week. The song isn’t their best, but the guitar scratches, wails and shredding takes on an interesting eastern tinge and it does find its feet as it explodes into an 80s pop banger. ‘Endless Blue’ is like a palette cleansing intermission to start, before they hit the gas. It’s a massive sound and exactly the sort of thing that illustrates how they’ve grown as a band. ‘Still Life’ is in the same vein. Massive, anthemic, like Simple Minds, but cooler. It’s obviously a crowd favourite. The sway sets in. Arms are up. Phones are out. The singing begins. It’s beautiful and quite a brave move to throw it in mid-set. Maybe because the title is similar ‘More Than Life’ follows. The excitable lads in front of me start to bounce and hold on to one another. The chorus takes us into brutal banger territory, but they’re the only ones going crazy. I’m down the front, but there’s  more head bobbing and foot tapping going on than anything else. They’re flexing now though, as the bossanova synth of ‘Moving Further Away’ unfurls. I’d forgotten really just how many amazing songs they have in their arsenal. This one is a swirling mass of shape shifting  synths, raucous riffs and Badwan playing with a glove that sprays lasers out into the crowd, as if he didn’t already look like Edward Scissorhands. ‘LA Runaway’ is all about the big chorus that builds like a sunrise after the previous nights verses have swamped us in brooding Lynchian menace. We’re then taken into the break with the ferocious ‘Who Can Say’. It’s taken nearly an hour and the full set, but things have warmed up down the front as bodies surge together. Badwan responds, prowling the front of the stage and punching the air. ‘Lotus Eater’ eases us back in to the encore as blue spotlights swirl around stage, lighting the band like blackout shapes in the darkness. It’s minimal house bass slowly turning up the heat and teasing us with its tight control. It stands out in the set, but in a good way. Speaking of standing out, how about a cover. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ done quite like this. It’s not bad. It’s not amazing either though and at this point in the set, seems like an odd choice. They don’t need it, but the crowd enjoy it. They close with ‘Something to Remember Me By’. It’s a good come down song that’s still got plenty of clout. It slows down to the bridge, before exploding in a euphoric finale.  The laser glove is back, the excited lads lose their minds and I’m left with a feeling of life affirming joy. Not bad for a goth band.