The Horrors, Skying (Release date Aug. 9)
The Horrors apparently feel that they have to carry the banner for every British band of the ‘80s or ’90s that was ever any good. I’m hearing bits of Blur, Pop, Human League, Cure and even U2 here. Luckily The Horrors have a shtick of their own to add—that dark bass-bumped swirl of imminent menace which sets its own leisurely lion-in-waiting pace.

So instead of aping all those other bands, it sounds instead like they’re being slowly swallowed into a gaping maw of malevolent modern pop music. Even the higher-pitched, jumpier stuff like “Wild Eyed” is tense and forboding.