Boards

Riff starts off, kinda sounds like classic bloc party, but with a heaviness that was previously lacking. The chorus is where this track get properly good. Has a sort of menacing air to it, the track in some ways kind of reminds me of Deftones, or at least you can see how they supposedly influenced them. A lovely instrumental bit with big heavy sweeping guitars follows. This is very promising.

Fuck me this good. A really dark and heavy (for BP anyway) sound coming out. This one will be the proper moshpit starter come the tour in October. Whispered verses give way to a shouty falsetto chorus. Supposedly this is about group sex. The middle 8 bit has Kele whispering "no means no". I can see this quickly becoming a favourite of mine.

The single that we've heard already. Kind of (very) underwhelming after what's come before. A lot more reminiscent of Silent Alarm tracks like Banquet than the rest of the album. But its certainly lacking that extra bite. Having said that, its probably a lot more accessible than the first two so I can see why it was the single choice. Also, the delay thing in this song is starting to piss me off a bit. Not saying its crap, I really liked it on release, its just its not as great as the first two.

I suppose it kind of figures that if you're doing a liveblog thread at 1am most of the responses are going to be from yourself. Meh. Anyway, this starts off fairly simply, using basic chords. Kele's vocals give this a kind of sophisticated feel, along with the simplicity of it. It sort of sounds like it could be a single contender in the future. Very catchy chorus melody. Weirdly it kind of reminds of a sort of hybrid of mid-00's indie and OK Computer era Radiohead.

Back to the heavy stuff. An intro riff that could almost be out of a Cancer Bats record or something. This is definitely their heaviest record yet. Then starts to sound a bit Smashing Pumpkins as it goes into a verse with the guitar line played on distorted harmonics. Its not as memorable as some of the tracks, and kind of sounds a bit like filler. And then it gets to the middle 8/solo and goes into full on Pumpkins mode, and is awesome. Pinch harmonics from Bloc Party? Wow. Yeah, this is definitely awesome now.

Another one thats already out there. Its a pretty wonderful little track. Nice and sweeping and melodic and stuff. Kele's vocals are uncharacteristically lovely here, the falsetto sounding calm and soothing rather than piercing. It kind of reminds me of windy summer evenings with friends. Then theres a really nice melodic build up, which ends in a rather wonderful passage full of swooning harmonies and pretty guitars. Definitely a highlight.

Bluesy riff to start. Sounds a little bit like Grounds For Divorce by Elbow, which is an odd fit for the band. Definitely feels like its building up to something. Then it gets heavy. Sounds a little bit like a Muse/Soundgarden hybrid now, with Kele shouting over a wall of distorted riffs. Then breaks for a bit with Kele shouting about pain or something (i'm choosing to ignore some of the lyrics, they've never been BP's strong point). Ends fairly abruptly, could easily do with another verse. Looks like there are several big moshpit moments on this, and this track looks likely to be one of them.

(Might just make a bit of an apology about the quality of my writing here, writing is definitely not a strong point of mine, i don't normally do reviews like this.)

Does anyone know what this stands for? Hmmm. Anyway, starts off reminiscent of Silent Alarm in ways, definitely the most "classic bloc party" on the album so far. Angular guitars bounce off a surprisingly melodic song. Kele's vocals are clearly at the forefront here, which is no bad thing. Really catchy backing vocals in the chorus. Bouncy and upbeat, this one could definitely be a contender for a future single.

And Russell's back with the delay. Similar to Octopus, this starts off a bit underwhelming. Then there's a bit where the guitars drop out and Kele sings quietly, which is cool, before back to the first verse again. And then it gets heavy, while staying to the same beat with downtuned guitars and harmonics, and then the most headbanging-friendly Bloc Party riff yet.

A slowie. Kele croons over some delayed guitar chords. This is quite lovely melodically. The beat then kicks in, and this starts to sound like an indie pop classic. Some well placed woo-oo-ooo's in the background. Kind of similar to Day Four in many ways, and definitely another highlight on a record that's shaping up to be nothing short of brilliant.

Sounds a bit like The xx/Wild Beasts before the vocals come. Definitely a more subdued number. Atmospheric vocals and guitars over a nice subtle groove. Its probably bordering on filler, but sounds a bit like a grower, so who knows, this is only my first listen to the album. Really chilled out this one is.

A bit of a cringeworthy title, but we'll let it slide, because its fucking awesome. Big distorted metal riffs kick off this punk-like track. This is a big fuzzy kick in the face of a song, and while its a bit of an odd choice for a closer when something like Day Four or Truth would have worked so much better, it definitely works well in the context of the album. Blimey, this is just full of fucking RIFFS! Definitley a Kyuss influence here.

Well, I was definitely looking forward to it, but I certainly wasn't expecting THIS. Gone are the electronic influences that swamped Intimacy. Nay, there's barely a bleep or electronic tweak on this. This is a big, raw, fuck off, riff-fest of a rock album, interspersed with moments of enthralling beauty. Its a shame that this probably will never be viewed as their all time classic (Silent Alarm was too critically revered and captured the zeitgeist), because this could well be their best record. And definitely a contender for album of the year. Now i'm going to rape the replay button for a few hours until I eventually fall asleep.

Probably would have ignored this album since I thought Octopus was a bit pants, I'll be checking it out now.

where did all this noise come from? A couple of songs in and I think I approve

Really keen on this whole album. Stayed up all of Thursday night waiting for it to download and spent Friday sleep deprived at work but it was TOTALLY WORTH IT.
Feels like they've made good on their earlier sound. Also shit yeah Russell. Don't think I would've been anywhere near as excited if it'd been another Intimacy type affair.

The last two had their moments, but were horribly self-conscious and overbearing. (Yes, I know, you could argue this is self-consciously RAWWWK)

This feels loose - there are times during Real Talk where it sounds like the whole mix might collapse in on itself. Yet it hangs together beautifully, and sneaks in some twinkly OK Computer guitars for good measure.

Day Four continues the Radiohead-borrowing awesomeness - it sounds like a less paranoid Weird Fishes/Arpeggi towards the end.

Nearly every production decision was a masterstroke I reckon. I can't help but wonder what would have happened had this directly followed Silent Alarm. We can but dream.

For now I'm going to absolutely play this to DEATH. I feel like a giddy 18 year old again :D

my review for The Music Fix will be going up in a day or so, I think I was fair on it.

definitely, the stand out dud, along with The Healing.

Rest of the album is pretty decent, though, with tracks 1, 2, 5, 9 and 11 all being rock solid. This is after about 5 listens now.

Can see the album making a serious play at the second half of my top ten for the year. Maybe even hitting the mid-order.

I might sound a bit shellshocked there, and that's because I am. They're one of my favourite bands so I always tend to listen to their music through rose-tinted headphones, but I tried to cut away everything they've meant to me in the past and just listen to this on its own merits. And it really stands up.

(Still not sold on 'Octopus', though...)

then please tell me that "probably buy it" means "definitely buy it".

great album

how can you guys like Bloc Party so much when the lead singer is clearly such a melt?

I probably would still have bought it but now I definitely will

IT BETTER BE AS GOOD AS YOU MADE IT SOUND

Just posted on the 'actual' review but figured I'd copy my sad excuse for a flame here...

RE: this post... I did not enjoy it completely but I did not hate it entirely. I feel enervated but, with the last of my energy, I’m not entirely sure I agree with the concept of a live-blogged album review. No, on consideration, actually, I do agree with it because I respect the concept as an enormous challenge to an objective and creative writer. Alas, the gentleman/woman is neither of those things (but has the good grace not to pretend to be either). To me, horrendous cnut that I am, I don’t want initial, unfocused and unprocessed views. I want considered, educated and eloquent opinion and I want the author to have the time to construct such things. I don’t want a list of previous examples/sound-alikes (unless they’re being offered as evidence for laziness) because I’m not just the sort of person who buys a Bloc Party record, I’m the person who buys all kinds of records. This isn’t a lifestyle blog and nor is it the release of a Radiohead record (what an AWFUL DAY that was…).
There’s the other side of me that feels glad, because music still has the power to inspire: be it social change or, as in this case, a person openly pleasuring themselves whilst coming up with tired similes to pre-existing media. If the sound of skin-on-skin wasn’t so prevalent, I would half-suggest that it’s a spoof account from a person who actively hates Bloc Party. At least they were granted the energy to do SOMETHING. Anyway, the unpretentious language has won fans so, hopefully, the writer will continue to take the time to write but will take the time, rather than not.

Thanks for reading / I'm already running.

Is this worth giving a go if you've not been massively enamoured with Bloc Party in the past? I genuinely really like Pioneers and Flux and think Helicopter and a couple of the other songs on Silent Alarm are okay-ish but was never massively interested in much else they did and don't particularly rate Silent Alarm.

Is there anything here that'll change my mind?

That being said I would give this album a 7-7.5/10 atm. I really like a lot of the songs on this album, but imo it lacks coherence/flow.