And suddenly, they’re everywhere. Every magazine you open, every web page that loads, the three drawn faces of Salem look back. 90s grunge stares with a jaundiced gnarl, even constricted to paper pages or backlit screen they intimidate. And they’re always there.

But unless you’ve been paying close attention to the online hype surrounding debut release King Night, you could be forgiven for not understanding what all the fuss is about. Who are these Gen X throwbacks and why are they suddenly, suddenly, demanding such a high amount of attention when, and this is the key, nobody can really quite describe what their music sounds like?

It’s the key and it’s the beauty of Salem. Three personalities combining three styles and sounds to create something that takes in dubstep, hip-hop, industrial noise, gothic… drag?

Drag.

Sure, it’s this new genre that we’ve created and thrown a few names into, but do Salem really belong? Do they really have contemporaries? It’s a notion they reject in interviews, and maybe we just created this bracket and placed them in to stop it feeling so eerily outside. To better understand the deathly, oppressive slum that creeps through my headphones with every press of play.

However you want to label them, I don’t think anyone can deny their originality or their audacity in doing what they want. This isn’t the kind of record I can review by throwing in a few nods to Bowie’s exuberance or the Jam’s guitar hooks. Salem draw on a newer school of experience, and one that they shape and mould into something that takes my breath away. Jack’s pitched-down cough syrup rhymes could be lent from the dirty south, but it’s not ripped. John’s destroying synth lines have an air of post-industrial punk to them, but again, it’s different. It’s the way they’re pieced together. It’s progressive and dominating and gloriously different. For every darkly slurred line, there’s a choral soar coming. Yes, the record will weigh on you, but there are moments of beauty that lift.

The reason I like this album, love this album, however, is the way it makes me feel. It’s like I’m watching a horror movie I’ve seen ninety times. I know what’s going to happen. I know every line. But still, I sit there, edge of seat, completely involved. It’s the feeling of unease and discomfort. It’s a stray into the dark side with the knowledge that every thing is going to be alright.