“What is the point of writing songs about the apocalypse and the inescapable future that’s drenched in darkness, when the media already do it better? Instead, with our new album HUNGER, we give you the light,” says Alex Svenson, band leader of Swedish goth rock/post punk outfit Then Comes Silence, according to the promo material.
A goth rock band not spreading gloom? That’s unusual. And genre challenging. Or should I say genre disqualifying? After all, there is a limit to what you can call genre challenging. Or is this a joke, maybe? If it isn’t, what kind of light are we talking about? Blinking Christmas lights, glaring bright white, or the flickering grey light of a dirty lamp, never cleaned, with old spiderwebs in its corners and moths flying around it, put up above the entrance to a shady bar in a dubious part of town?
Such were my thoughts after reading the info to Then Comes Silence’s new album Hunger, their sixth in a row. A quick first listen soon revealed that the turnaround in sound was nowhere near as extreme as the above quote would have you assume. In fact, there is nothing constituting a turnaround to be found here. Which is a good thing, I’d say. Blinking Christmas lights hitting me straight in the face in the middle of a sweltering European summer would have been more than I can bare.
The light in question, it turns out, is rather of the dirty, greyish kind, going on and off, and calling you somewhere you’re not sure you want to go. So far, so genre conform. It comes as no surprise then, that the album’s eleven songs, with titles like Ticket to Funerals, Cold From Inside, Worm, Chain and Blood Runs Cold, pay tribute to the genre greats like The Cure, The Sisters of Mercy and Joy Division.
Instead of experimenting with that heritage, the band see themselves as guardians of the fire, keeping the flame alive until new prophets are born. Hunger will therefore certainly appeal to the fans of the bands listed above, but also to followers of more recent projects like Fotocrime or Wires & Lights.
Among the more infectious songs on Hunger is track number one, Tickets to Funerals, beginning with electrified Oriental tunes, rhythmic beats and synth sounds. It is immediately followed by Rise to the Bait, a slower and melancholier, but nothing less addictive number, with clever lyrics. Days And Years completes my favorite trio and allows you to dance and sing along to its melody.
So, will you hear something new here? No, you won’t. But if you are a goth rock, darkwave or post punk fan, you will definitely enjoy these well-written, well-produced songs.
(7.5/10 Slavica)
Leave a Reply