It’s probably fair to say that “Duran Duran are making a Halloween album” probably wasn’t on most people’s bingo sheets for 2023. And yet, here we are: the New Romantics have taken a spooky new turn with Danse Macabre, an eerie offering that dodges pure kitsch in favour of some curveball covers and icy, haunted synth-pop.
It’s hardly the Monster Mash, but still has its tongue firmly in cheek. On the title track, Simon Le Bon half-raps in a theatrical boom, channelling the vague vibe of an MC on the Waltzers at a haunted fairground. When the band opted to cover Billie Eilish’s industrial pop mega-hit Bury A Friend, they knew full well that it would raise a few eyebrows.
