Music critics have an uncanny propensity to classify and compare artists according to their influences. Every review of a new band is less about the music and more about tracing the heritage of said band; unfortunately Bloc Party hasn't escaped this trend.
Though they're already labeled 2005's Franz Ferdinand, their British roots and dance-oriented, high-octane debut album, "Silent Alarm" has too much energy to be dismissed in a discussion of
influences.
There isn't a dull moment on the first half of "Silent Alarm." Take a deep breath as the bass on "Like Eating Glass" opens the album, because you won't have another chance to do so until the end of the album's first single, "Banquet," almost four songs later.
This lineup of songs will knock you off your feet. To borrow directly from the lyrics to "Helicopter," Bloc Party is "running on bravado." The choruses in songs such as "Like Eating Glass" and "Banquet" are so powerful and hook-filled, you will be on edge waiting for the band to burst out of the verse.
Bloc Party, with their boundless energy and huge choruses, could have easily fallen into bombastic song-writing. Thankfully, they kept the strings and other unnecessary instruments and experiments out of the studio. The record is carried solely by the band, which is excellent because each member has extraordinary control of their instrument.
The addition of Gregorian chant-like backing vocals on several songs is unique to this album, and we will probably be seeing lots of new bands stealing Bloc Party's idea. The crucial member and key to the band's success is drummer Matt Tong. His drumming is absolutely propulsive throughout and helps carry the band through some of the lackluster tunes near the end of the album.
"Silent Alarm's" only major problem is that its best songs are all packed into the beginning of the album. Almost any song on the first half of the disc from "Like Eating Glass" to "This Modern Love" could be a single, but the end of the album is mostly unremarkable filler. You'll often find yourself pressing the skip button halfway through most of these songs. They aren't bad, but after listening to what is the best set of music so far released in 2005, they are very forgettable.
Underneath their dance-rock surface, Bloc Party makes hints at political lyrics. Lines from "Helicopter," such as "Hungry and dumb, Hungry and dumb/Queue it up for some more junk food" play off the stereotype of America as a "Fast Food Nation" of ambivalent slobs. In the same song, vocalist Kele Okereke also scolds Europeans for their inaction against American policy, calling them the "Bastard child of guilt and shame/Bury your head in the sand."
Bloc Party, however, is not Rage Against the Machine. The music doesn't suffer for the message. Though there are political
messages in some of the lyrics - mostly "Helicopter" and "The Price of Gas" - they are not lengthy, radical leftist rants.
Bloc Party arrived amid a storm of hype. After countless numbers of over-hyped bands failed to live up to their promise, it would be understandable to cast them off as another group of pretenders.
But forget about the endless classifications and comparisons that led up to its release, because "Silent Alarm" more than delivers. Bloc Party isn't a regurgitation of their influences' bodies of work, and they are much more than the Franz Ferdinand of 2005.
