Bloc Party
Silent Alarm

THE REVIEW

Towards the end of 2002 and for most of the following year, there wasn't a single issue of NME that didn't feature at least a small paragraph about the Libertines. Every week, the hundreds of people reading about Pete Doherty's personal escapades were also kept updated on the musical evolution of the group.
Well, this scenario is about to repeat with one of the most talked-about emerging groups from across the Channel in recent months. The Bloc Party.

Here comes "Silent Alarm," the most anticipated debut album for lovers of a certain kind of rock, alongside that of The Others by Dominic Masters.
The group led by Kele Okereke, a frontman whose vocal tone is clean and melodic like that of Brandon Boyd, moves within the Franz Ferdinand-like boundaries of a dynamic rock, flooded with pop-punk references and will represent, along with the Babyshambles, the sharp pinnacle of the brand new 2005 British rock wave.

Songs like Like Eating Glass, the opening track of the album, or She's Hearing Voices strike from the first listen and genuinely make you think you've encountered a rock band, if not innovative, at least not too boring.
With an EP behind them and a couple of well-crafted singles, including the excellent Elicopter, Bloc Party earned themselves a tour across Europe, initially opening for Interpol and later garnering numerous favorable critiques from industry insiders.

However, it's necessary to temper the excessive enthusiasm and high expectations of the press. The album is far from a masterpiece.
Nevertheless, it's also true that, while not a must-have, it is enjoyable, especially in those parts where new wave bands tend to lose their way a bit: the ballads. There's a certain romantic (and psychedelic) vein in tracks like Plans that adds something beautiful to the works previously offered by the above-mentioned bands.
The album's sound is impeccably clean, far from lo-fi recordings or bluesy nuances muddied with grime: driven songs, equally fast riffs, and a passion for Clash, Pixies, and some of the bands from the '90s Madchester scene unmistakably emerge from time to time.

Those pleasantly surprised by bands like Razorlight and Futurheads shouldn't miss this other stop in new rock, which, if not yet another small brilliant discovery, is at least a pleasant diversion lasting an hour.