Tonight was the night I had been waiting for, for the last three years. At 17 this band was my all, now at 20 I was finally going to witness their havoc in the flesh; The Horrors!

Opening up the night was Fabulous Diamonds, a duo armed with long, monotonous drum verses synthesiser numbers, reminiscent of the Velvet Underground. The songs were repetitive, drawn out often with little vocals, though when there was some it came from drummer Nisa Venevosa, her light female voice contrasting with the grainy appeal of the music she sang along to. Though, the repetitious nature of the duo’s music seemed to waiver the enthusiasm of the crowd, who were clearly there to see their favourite monochrome-clad men.

Each member slowly trickled onto the stage to a soundtrack of feedback and applause, the audience getting louder and louder as each musician made their way to face the Corner Hotel attendees. They opened with ‘Mirror’s Image’, immediately making their sound take up as much room in the venue as possible. Their most recent album, Primary Colours, saw the Southend-on-Sea quintet’s music evolve into giant, atmospheric monsters, which translated perfectly to their live performance and transformed the songs into abrasive yet mature works of art. Forth song in was ‘I Can’t Control Myself’, beginning with a distorted, chaotic guitar riff and an undulating rhythm. Faris’ vocals echoed out, threatening and evocative with twisted synthesiser manned by Tom, as Joe kept the riot of noises together behind his drums.

As you watch this band wreak their destruction on stage, you can notice the personality of each individuals performance; Joshua, armed with his Jaguar, moves around in a slow uneven circle, face down and watching the ground while Joe sits tall and composed behind his kit. Rhys moves in jerks and jolts, feeling every manic note of his bass guitar, with Tom working like mad man crouched over a plethora of synthesisers. All the while there is Faris, standing tall and angular with a stare that goes straight through you to burn holes in the wall behind. His shadowy yet educated bellow-like croon rings out to support his gloomy and mysterious demeanour.

After closing the main bulk of their set with ‘Sea Within a Sea’, they came back on to please the older fans with some older tracks, ‘Count in Fives’, ‘Sheena is a Parasite’ and ‘Gloves’, as well as a searing cover of Suicide’s ‘Ghost Rider’.

Seeing the Horrors finally perform in the flesh wasn’t just like watching another band play, the songs grew into an experience; all joining together to make a messy, shambolic but breath-taking display.

Full Setlist:

Mirror’s Image
Three Decades
Primary Colours
I Can’t Control Myself
New Ice Age
Scarlet Fields
I Only Think of You
Whole New Way
Who Can Say
Sea Within a Sea

Encore:
Ghost Rider (Suicide cover)
Count In Fives
Sheena is a Parasite
Gloves