If to ‘do a Radiohead’ means giving your album away for free then to ‘do a Horrors’ will soon be used for a band defying all expectations.
‘Hidden’, These New Puritans’ follow-up to ‘Beat Pyramid’, must surely be an early contender for The Horrors’ crown. Fans will tell you how the quality of this album was to be expected, but to many TNP emerged from Southend as pretentious, cold and heavily indebted to The Fall.
Humble pie all round then as ‘Hidden’ boasts a parade of stunning moments from the bashment style beats of ‘Fire-Power’ to the solitary electrical confinement on ‘White Chords’. Showing clear progression and monumental ambition, TNP have crafted a stark and dense knockout performance.
9/10
Words by David Renshaw
