The Horrors offer rare reprieve from their seizure inducing light show during an anthemic rendition of "Still Life"

The Horrors will be facing the biggest test and the biggest opportunity of their young careers when they take to stage at Reading and Leeds Festival this August. Headlining carries an incredible weight of expectation, not only must you draw a suitably large crowd, but you have to satisfy a varied audience who won’t necessarily be comprised of Horrors’ diehards or even casual fans.

2011 takes these pressures and amplifies them tenfold, as The Horrors are headlining against the loved and loathed My Chemical Romance. MCR may well triumph, and they may draw a good sized crowd, but there will be plenty of indie and rock fans turned off by MCR, who will find themselves equally disappointed by an undeserving NME headliner named Beady Eye and a dance tent that might not suit their tastes.

So with all that in mind tonight’s date at York Hall leisure club in Bethnal Green appears pivotal; as Faris Badwan and co. preview and gauge the effect of their new material, and their new setlist, on a audience of genuine fans.

The Horrors certainly pull no punches, after slyly skulking on stage; they rip straight into three new tracks anchored by a bristling rendition of “Scarlet Fields”. If “Still Life” offered a warped, highly danceable, highly anthemic, psychedelic synth pop then tonight’s airings of “Changing Rain”, “I Can See Through You” and “Drive In” suggest the next Horrors LP will consist of blistering noise-rock. The band cultivated long stretches of textured noise; layering haunting echoes and strained guitar scrapes on top of one another to create a towering wall of noise, before building to a series of frenetic ear shredding crescendos.

The powerhouse bluster of the new materiel, and their beefed up renditions of Primary Colours tracks, were married to a stunning light show. A series of multi-coloured strobe lights pointed directly at the crowd flickered, faded and whirled with atmospheric aplomb. When the music intensified, the light show followed suit, creating a brutal. yet beautiful, total sensory assault that overwhelms the audience, inducing a trance like state.

It was the type of spectacle you’d expect from a headliner, and in new set closer “Moving Further Away” the band have a suitably cataclysmic finale that blends intricate textures with a relentless rhythm section and interjections of propulsive post-Kraftwerk synths, that possess both a stainless steel drive and an infectious melodious quality. Creating a glorious long form finale that varies in mood and intensity masterfully.

Sadly there were flaws, while the drumming was consistently sensational; the levels of Tom Furse’s keys were abysmal. During the quieter sections his keys rang out dramatically, but whenever the band picked up the tempo, as on hit single “Who Can Say”, Furse’s soaring synth line became all but inaudible. The brute force bluster of the band’s rhythm section carried the tracks but when faced with the often-unforgiving Reading and Leeds audiences the Horrors will have to be tighter.

Thankfully, in “Sea Within A Sea” and the thrilling “Mirror’s Image” they have two sure fire hits that are positively re-invigorated by a loose and more visceral reading. While “Still Life” already feels like a yearning chant-a-long classic in waiting, capable of unifying festival crowds in cries of “When You Wake Me Up, You Will Find Me” upon its official release.

Strictly Our Opinion: The Horrors are far from a polished headliner, but that’s never been their style. Instead they offer a raucous brand of astutely layered trance inducing noise rock, backed up by a truly spectacular light show that overwhelms its audience on a sensory, almost attritional, level.

If tonight’s show is anything to go by, The Horrors next LP will be a richly textured and enthralling assortment of danceable noise-rock. However, this appraisal should be taken with a pinch of salt, as the synth levels were very low (removing an entire layer from the music), The Horrors choice of instrument was limited in the live setting, and the rhythm attack was irresistibly ferocious tonight giving every track a harder post-punk/noise rock edge.

Overall, practice will make perfect, and on tonight’s evidence The Horrors will offer an incredibly stylish and gloriously ragged alternative to My Chemical Romance and Beady Eye, complete with one of the most dazzling light shows on the live circuit.

The Horrors @York Hall, Bethnal Green Setlist

1. Changing The Rain

2. Scarlet Fields

3. I Can See Through You

4. Drive In

5. Three Decades

6. Who Can Say

7. Endless Blue

8. Sea Within A Sea

9. Still Life

10. Mirror’s Image

11. Moving Further Away