The Horrors review, Lout: New EP shows the band are still finding new ways to evolve

Self-produced project sees the band diverting away from pop to embrace a full-on industrial aesthetic

The Horrors (Charles Jeffrey – LOVERBOY and Bunny Kinney)

You wouldn’t expect a mid-2000s indie-rock relic act to keep evolving their sound – and do it successfully at that. And yet, here we are: The Horrors, who showed up in 2007 as a goth-rock foil to dance club standard-bearers Bloc Party (think: if Trent Reznor fronted Joy Division) are still finding new ways to evolve.

Their latest EP, Lout, is only three songs long, but even in under 15 minutes, the short-player packs a wallop. The self-produced project finds The Horrors diverting from the more pop-minded V (2017) and embracing a full-on industrial aesthetic. The hard-driving title track is a pounding cacophony of chugging guitars, distorted vocals, and reverb-heavy beats. Follow-up “Org” amps up the electronic elements, feeding all manner of atonal sound through a mad array of effects (but miraculously never losing the beat). Ironically, closer “Whiplash” is a little more mid-tempo, but it thuds and shatters the eardrums with no less efficacy.

The Horrors’ ability to keep churning out exciting new additions to their already expansive catalogue (years after anyone expects them to) is impressive in itself. But the idea of witnessing Lout live after the pandemic is finished with us? That’s just another reason to anticipate whatever else the group has in store for the roaring 2020s.