The Horrors - V
Critic Score
Based on 28 reviews
2017 Ratings: #111 / 940
User Score
Based on 295 ratings
2017 Rank: #244
Liked by 15 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
A.V. Club

V maintains a distinctively elegant gloom, The Horrors continuing to find intoxicating new shades within their gray moods. It’s an album that confirms them as one of the most consistently surprising, most artistically sophisticated, simply greatest rock bands working today.

100
The Guardian

There’s something really powerful and undeniable about V’s songs that suggests it could provide the most unlikely twist in an unlikely story: the Horrors actually becoming as big as the overheated hype announced they would a decade ago. Whether that happens or not, it’s a triumph.

90
musicOMH

The Horrors have never been afraid to push their sound to new and interesting places. So it comes as no surprise to find that V continues that trend by matching their anthemic side with a desire to “get nasty” and make something “quite unsettling”.

90
The Line of Best Fit

V isn’t a huge reinvention, more a subtle reboot, and a move which has worked out perfectly. The Horrors are hardly new to making brilliant albums - they did that with their previous three - but V is better than them all.

90
Clash
‘V’ is The Horrors’ most cohesive record to date. Even though it doesn’t carry the same stylistic impact as ‘Primary Colours’ did in 2009 (c’mon, that was a massive leap), ‘V’ is the record that has finally given The Horrors a set identity.
85
Under the Radar

V could very well be the album that pushes The Horrors to the next echelon, something the group has already accomplished in its native U.K. with its last two albums breaking the top 10 charts. This is an unrealistic expectation Stateside, but V certainly has the chops to propel them up a level or two in the American public's consciousness.

80
XS Noize
In answer to the question of whether they are jumping into the mainstream forgoing their well-developed alternative ethos, the answer is they are desirous of mainstream acclaim but are not about to not forfeit their souls, well done!
80
RIOT
Despite the largely futuristic tone of The Horror’s new album, it’s evident that they haven’t lost the traditional quirkiness which made fans fall so hard for them in the first place.
80
Evening Standard
What’s new is emotional undertow and the sense of bigness. Songs unfurl slowly over five or six minutes, cresting into surprising new shapes: you can just imagine a twilight crowd swooning to the coda of Ghost, or the outro of Something to Remember Me By.
80
The Irish Times

Skying remains their best attempt at fusing psychedelia and pop music, but V comes really close with its reimagining of Tubeway Army, Soft Cell and Björk.

80
Q Magazine

V feels bigger than its predecessors, but it still disturbs.

80
Record Collector

Arguably The Horrors’ best album yet. V, it would seem, is for Victory.

80
Dork
This the album that sees The Horrors at their playful and creative best.
80
The Observer

After 2014’s slightly aimless Luminous, the Horrors’ fifth album finds them recapturing the focus of their earlier triumphs

80
The Independent
In their 11th year, they move out of whatever comfort zone they were in before and recapture some of their best traits.
80
Mojo
The Horrors’ alchemical sticky-fingered raid through the ’80s closet delivers some of the most thrilling, most substantial pop you’ll hear all year.
80
Uncut
An audacious vault into Depeche Mode and U2 territory.
80
The Skinny

Overall, V feels like a consolidation of all of the strengths that The Horrors have built up over the last ten years, tightly bundled and perfectly accessible without sacrificing any of their artistic integrity.

80
DIY
Five albums in and The Horrors have obviously found a new lease of life. This ‘V’ is for victorious.
80
NME
Newly signed to Epworth’s label Wolf Tone, and following up ‘Luminous’ (an album they reckon “could have been better”) the band have responded by unleashing their ballsiest selves.
80
AllMusic

While the band's fifth album sounds expectedly stadium-sized, bringing another pair of ears into the fold seems to have pushed the Horrors to make the biggest changes to their music since Primary Colours.

80
PopMatters

On V, the Horrors have got their mojo back. They sound lean, keen and mean but with songs to match the swagger. This is the album the band needed to make.

75
GIGsoup
The album is, on the whole, a sign of The Horrors‘ continuous evolution, and it does not disappoint.
71
Pitchfork
The band’s basic formula—simple, languid melodies, traditional verse-chorus structures interrupted by guitar and synth wig-outs—hasn’t changed, but the surfaces are grittier, the drums smack harder, and the vocals sit louder in the mix.
70
Spectrum Culture
That’s not to say that every track completely lands. Some melodies and song structures on V can end up seeming rote. In between, though, are moments of surprise.
70
Classic Rock

V combines expansive arena-rock sonics with a heavy dose of lush electronics. Indeed, the stern synths and metal-bashing percussion of Hologram sound like vintage Tubeway Army, while the robo-riffing thunder of Machine falls between Suede and the Sisters Of Mercy.

60
The Arts Desk
The weirder moments of the album are among the best.
40
Loud and Quiet
You get the sense that The Horrors still have greatness in them (see Tom Furse’s experimental solo album and Badwan’s work in Cat’s Eyes) but it’s not here.
JayCrackers
69

The most recent The Horrors' record, V, sees them incorporate a more synthpop / Alternative Dance element to their establish Neo-Psychedelia sound and it's an improvement over Luminous but with still some weaker production and tracks in general it fails to live up to Skying and Primary Colours.

Track Review

Hologram 6.5/10
Press Enter To Exit 7.5/10.
Machine 7/10
Ghost 6/10
Point of No Reply 7.5/10.
Weighed Down 6/10
Gathering 6.5/10
World Below 6.5/10
It's a Good Life 7/10
Something To ... read more

Kal3n
84

OUT OF MY COMFORT-ZONE - CHALLENGE
DAY 11
[Genre(s): Neo-Psychedelia, Post-Punk]

Welcome by the eleventh installment of the challenge! This time I had to review 'V' by The Horrors. If I'm honest, I really didn't expect to like this record, because I really don't like post-punk a genre. But this album really surprised me, it was really captivating, so much so that I was completely zoned out while listening.

This record has some of the best production in the genre, ever. It's incredibly ... read more

reptilia0000
68

Decent enough, but disappointing regardless

Back in 2018, I listened to that auto-generated Spotify playlist "Daily Mix" (that's how it's called here in my country at least), to find new albums and bands, since by then, I was just barely starting. There, I found some of my favorite bands and albums, "The Queen Is Dead" or "Little Dark Age" for example, but in there, I also stumbled upon this album. "V" by The Horrors got my interest almost ... read more

jona1brecht
95

they really just dropped this banger of an album and disappeared for 7 years

k4th
93

a beautiful album! easy to lose yourself in the psychedelic atmosphere

gabrielmcj
75

Hologram - 95
Press Enter To Exit - 85
Machine - 100
Ghost - 70
Point of No Reply - 75
Weighed Down - 65
Gathering - 80
World Below - 75
It's a Good Life - 70
Something To Remember Me By - 40

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Added on: June 28, 2017