Bloc Party
A Weekend In The City

THE REVIEW

After the great success achieved with "Silent Alarm", Bloc Party return to the music scene with their second album "A Weekend In The City" with the hope of replicating the success of their previous work.

The album starts with "Song For Clay", a track in the old Silent Alarm style: it begins with Kele Orkereke's barely whispered voice, with the faint backdrop of electric guitar chords; after exactly one minute of introduction, the burst of energy arrives, an energetic guitar riff and drums make themselves heard, confirming the mix that was so popular in "Silent Alarm". To reconfirm the decision to follow in the footsteps of their past album, there is "Hunting For Witches" which decidedly recalls the way the guitar is used in the initial riff of "Helicopter" from the old CD, a great track without a doubt, but it seems we’re still stuck in 2005.

We change the track, moving on to "Waiting For 7.18", the first song where it becomes apparent that the sound is no longer an echo of their previous work; it seems more like a mix between Snow Patrol and Lemonheads (a strange combination, no?!?), even if the sound is different, this track doesn't captivate much due to poor structure, not suited to their audience's target. We move on to "The Prayer" (first single) and I can only use one word to describe it: exceptional. There's no reason to spend too much time on this track because I find no flaws: a truly great indie-rock piece.

Apart from a good start, but with too many similarities to "Silent Alarm", Bloc Party reconfirm themselves with the following tracks as a good/excellent emerging band (depending on the point of view) with great ideas and tremendous energy.

For anyone who hoped for their failure, they'll be disappointed, those four kids have reconfirmed themselves... Nothing special to be clear, but there's worse, much, much worse out there.