The Horrors Release Atmospheric Single ‘Trial By Fire’

Is there a better match, mood-wise, than the one between the night of Halloween and The Horrors? The heavy hitters of UK goth-rock, with their leather’n’latex aesthetic, their ever-present touch of dark humour, and their ability to mix the tense and the melancholy in their song writing, are the perfect go-to for anyone in need of a soundtrack for the spookiest night of the year. 

It is, then, very lucky indeed that, as they ramp up towards the release of their much-awaited new record, ‘Night Life’ – due in March 2025 – the Horrors have released a new track just in time to celebrate Halloween in style. 

‘Trial By Fire’ is an enticing look at what the new album might sound like – provided that this is a band capable of impressive range not only throughout their career, but sometimes within the same record. Their latest offering, 2017’s ‘V’, went from heavy-duty electronica to soulful ballad in the blink of an eye, and still somehow managed to feel fully cohesive.

However, if this track is any indication of what the future holds, then we are in for something a little bit rougher than the more polished offerings from the second half of the band’s career, with a sharper edge, striking vocals, and more than a little industrial rock thrown in the mix.

The track manages, interestingly, to feel both like a look back at the band’s origins and a step forward in a trajectory that has been far from linear, though never erratic. It doesn’t have – or not entirely – the more meditative quality of the albums released in the 2010s, which indulged in places in an almost shoegaze-like spirit. It has something of the more direct, punchy style of 2007’s ‘Strange House’ - the album that established The Horrors as a staple of the UK alternative scene - but in a more mature, more refined form; less of a breakneck joyride and more of a deliberate, relentless run through the night. This is an image evoked also by the video directed by Paris Seawell for the track, which also captures, with its grainy quality and play of shadows, much of the Halloween mood. 

The smooth vocal delivery that dominates so many of the band’s most beloved tracks gives way here to something rougher, more direct and confrontational, almost a snarled challenge that, together with the heavy-duty guitars, gives the song an adrenaline-filled, tense vibe. The harder element is the same one that was present in 2021 EPs ‘Lout’ and ‘Against The Blade’, which were in places almost metal; here it is distilled into something more subtle, but without losing its heft. When paired with the video, it feels like goth music for the 2020s - Bauhaus with a more pronounced punk-rock streak.

With almost 20 years treading the stage, this may well be for the Horrors that tricky spot where a band feels the temptation to just lean into the tried-and-tested and deliver exactly what the fans expect of them – or on the contrary, to take a completely unexpected turn into something very distant just because of the urge to innovate. It is a sign of great artistic maturity that these first glimpses we are getting of the new album suggest neither, but rather an ability to create something that sounds new while also building on elements that have always been there. 

There is also an energy to this new music that channels an excitement not just on the part of the fans, but also on the part of the band, for the way forward: this is very polished song writing, but you wouldn’t notice without taking a closer, deliberate look, not with the way the track sweeps its listener up into its night-time cavalcade. There is much to be said for a band that after so many years not only still creates new music at this level, but clearly still has plenty of fun doing it: a very refreshing – comforting, even – attitude after so many jaded looks at the music business in recent years.

That direct, almost confrontational, attitude is also what makes ‘Trial By Fire’ a song that almost demands to be played live. There will be opportunity for that, as well, with an UK tour slated to hit the road before the end of the year, and in smaller, more intimate venues too, the perfect type of stage to channel this energy. It is safe to announce, then, that The Horrors are back. They’re going to stick around well past Halloween night.

 

Chiara Strazzulla

@cstrazzull

Image: ‘Trial By Fire’ Official Single Cover