V is the fifth studio album by the English rock band the Horrors, released on 22 September 2017 by Wolf Tone and Caroline International. Promotion Singles The first single from the album, "Machine", was released on 13 June 2017; it premiered on BBC 6 Music. The single sleeve as well as the album artwork were designed by Erik Ferguson. Music videos On 17 July 2017, the Horrors premiered the video for "Machine", directed by Jon Emmony, who described the video in a press release: "'Machine' is based around the concept of computer simulation. The creatures, formed from sections cut and twisted from insects, crustaceans and bone are arranged in sculptural compositions inspired by artists such as Hieronymus Bosch; finding the surreal within mixed forms and scales. The movement for the creatures is powered through generated simulations – randomised numbers and splines are generated and the position of each creature along these splines are calculated; seemingly without reason but born from the choices of software. If left, taken away from an edit, the creatures would continue to exist and their movements would evolve. Simulated hair adapts to changing wind speeds and directions, again manipulated by randomised mathematics. For me this was an exciting way to create digital imagery as having an element of control removed and then decided by a computer seemed fitting with the track. Machines inside machines". Controversy On 14 June 2017, the band was accused of plagiarising visual artist Jesse Kanda with the artwork for the "Machine" single. The artwork, designed by Ferguson, shared several similarities with the works of Kanda, who then accepted that he in turn drew from the work of others, such as Chris Cunningham. Kanda later defended the Horrors in a statement: "At first I felt a bit territorial... But when I started seeing some people accusing some of my work being just as similar to some of Chris Cunningham's work, my stance shifted... I absolutely love Chris Cunningham – if I hadn't discovered his art in my adolescence, I wouldn't have made some of my art the same way". Kanda noted that the similarities might be coincidental, saying, "[...]Sometimes we might step on each other's toes, but that's actually out of love and admiration, coincidence, or even unconscious echoing too". Critical reception V was met with critical acclaim by contemporary music critics upon its release. According to review aggregator website Metacritic, the album