Just as a quick preamble, somehow this record managed to slip through the wickets - but as it is unquestionably among the very best of the year, I went back to retreive it - sorry it's late:

It wouldn't be terribly far-fetched to make an argument that Bloc Party's Silent Alarm is truly the best album of 05. Had the previous year not been rife with bands that one might rightly (or not so rightly) compare them to - had Franz Ferdinand labored in obscurity and the Futureheads failed to make a commercial splash, then I'd be right in surmising that Bloc Party would have ran away with the prize this year. Alas with last years spate of Gang of Four meets Joy Division bands tramping down the ground before them - Bloc Party seem like and also-ran that missed the starter's pistol and didn't make it out of the gates in time. While this perception might be an understandable one it is equally true that on a level playing ground, Bloc Party would have taken home 2004 in a bouquet.

Though Bloc Party was selected to tour as the opening act for Franz Ferdinand, the two bands share little in common musically - it is however, accurate to compare these four young British twentysomethings to the Futureheads - both sharing a similarly aggressive twin guitar and tight rhythm section blitzkrieg of an approach that treads the fine line between punk and power pop. Had these two bands gone head to futurehead last year it would've been a photo finish as to which was the most kickass, damn the torpedoes act to emerge from the swarms of bands that traded off early eighties influences to become a rather formidable, if muddled musical movement.

My money would have been on Bloc Party, because, though the Futureheads were a considerable juggernaut, their sound was, however intentional, obviously derivative (Clash, Jam, etc.) whereas Bloc Party owe only minor allegiances in terms of their influences. Nevertheless the similarities between the two are impossible to deny.

The biggest advantage Bloc Party would have had would have been in the lyrical department. Frontman/songwriter Kele Okerere writes his socio-political diatribes with a straight-forward no-nonsense immediacy that doesn't necessarily preach of solutions but rather bemoans the lack thereof. Or even the disinclination to even search for them. His half-sing half-shout delivery often reminds of Paul Banks and more to the point Robert Smith (circa Killing an Arab).

Where Bloc Party outpaces the competition is in their burnished musicianship. The frenzied interplay between the dual guitars, sounds almost like an intelligent conversation taking place between two passionate and eloquent orators. Add in the smart punctuation that the bass offers and this is just amazing music. Music where every last song could be a single. More importantly is their emphasis on rhythmic turbulence that at times represents a quantum leap ahead of their peers. The kind of smart stops and starts that remind of early Police and XTC, where the music is given that extra something courtesy of drummers interested in pushing the envelope of rhythmic ideas.

All this said, Bloc Party does not fart around with these pretensions in any kind of way that detracts from their jackboot march forward. A moody and turbulent sometimes breathless pace to cram as much balls-out pop-smarts down your throat as possible in a fourteen track format. Yet somehow Bloc Party manages to show-off flourishes of brilliance amid the confines of such simple and infectious straight ahead song-writing. They also take a few breaks from the breathless trample forward, leaving a little space for the guitars to jingle and jangle in ways that remind of Transatlanticism Death Cab. So there it is straight up. I've heard this band compared to any number of the acts that blossomed in 04, but the fact of the matter is they resemble the Futureheads a good deal, early Cure and brief hints of both Interpol and DCFC. Anybody want to disagree with me?

Rating: 5

Tyson's Take:

Since Boneman Industries have been inundated with a grip of releases, I brought it upon myself (the "metal/emo guy") to review some of the "bigger" more important stuff that England usually handles. Word on the street is that Kyle's Gonorrhea has left him a mere shell of a critic - probably why there's no Garbage review either. You're probably thinking, "why would they let the nutty emo kid review such a high profile release?" Well bitches it just so happens that I listen to everything from Iraqi metal/rap/alt-country groups to my nasty obsession with turning your mom's bubbly flatulence into mad beats.

So hear we go - ready-set-review. I liked this record a lot to say the least, but I have to say that Bloc Party just sounds like all the other nu wave bands hitting it big right now (Franz Ferdinand, Moving Units, Kaiser Chiefs, Dogs Die in Hot Cars, etc). Yet even though this band is just adding to the "What's hot!" music category they still kick ass.

Hailing from south London, Bloc Party got their first shot at success opening for Franz Ferdinand a few years back. Since then the buzz on these guys has slowly been growing to the point of ultimate media hype. Believe the hype though because Bloc Party is not a Bloke Party. The single, "Banquet" is hot as shit and catchier than herpes. It's like the "Take Me Out!" of 2005. The opening song, "Like Eating Glass" is a phenomenally tight and noisy, drum-driven ditty that compares "how it was" to how it is now eating glass and washing it down with poison. This is the kind of shit I can relate to. Doing the aforementioned drumming is the mad fucking genius, Matt Tong, who should be getting paid extra for reinventing his instrument. "She's Hearing Voices" is different than the rest of the album in that the vocal breakdown sounds like something out of a Slipknot song. Also, fans of Nick Zinner's guitar stylings will be happy to hear "Pioneers." Bloc Party has brought some fresh beer to the bash, and contributing to the nausea that Gang of Four and Joy Division are experiencing now that they have become the most influential bands since the Four Freshman and the Kingston Trio.

Rating: 3.5