Bloc Party – Hymns (2016) [Deluxe Edition]
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:05:08 minutes | 714 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | @ Vagrant Records
Popular English rock/electronica band Bloc Party’s fifth studio album. “Hymns” is a rebirth for Bloc Party. After 16 years as a band, countless world tours and awards and four studio albums, Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack are taking it back to where it all began…
For most of their career, it seemed like Bloc Party could incorporate just about any sound into their music and still sound like themselves: On Weekend in the City and Intimacy, they added electronic elements to their razor-sharp dance-punk with anthemic results, and flirted with grunge and metal when they returned to jackknifing riffs and rhythms on Four. However, the biggest risk they take on Hymns might be continuing under the Bloc Party name. Between Four and this album, drummer Matt Tong and bassist Gordon Moakes left the group and were replaced by Louise Bartle and former Menomena member Justin Harris. While the new members don’t sound like hired hands, the way Moakes and Tong’s taut, astringent playing balanced Kele Okereke’s earnestness is missed on Hymns. Indeed, Okereke’s fondness for soaring choruses and meditations on sex, drugs, and faith – and how they often blur together – provide the main connection to the band’s previous work. However, from the album’s title to its lyrics, Hymns’ expressions of searching and salvation are more overt than ever. Backed by slide guitars and a stomping beat, Okereke sings “I used to find my answers in the Gospels of St. John/Now I find them in the bottom of a shot glass” on “The Good News,” and the results are both heavy-handed and not hard-hitting enough. Hymns’ ballads are some of its strongest moments, and, not coincidentally, the most reminiscent of Bloc Party 1.0 and Okereke’s solo career. “My True Name” and “Fortress” serve as reminders that their plaintive melodies and soul-baring are still potent, while “Different Drugs’” chemically enhanced portrait of being alone together recalls Bloc Party’s highest emotional peaks. When the band attempts to branch out, the results are mixed: “So Real” and “Into the Earth” are intimate, guitar-driven sketches that make the most of Hymns’ more straightforward sounds and emotions, but the bubbling “The Love Within” feels simplistic instead of euphoric. Ultimately, Hymns finds Bloc Party stuck between a fresh start and continuing their legacy, leaving their identity – which once seemed so distinctive – compromised.
Tracklist:
01 – The Love Within
02 – Only He Can Heal Me
03 – So Real
04 – The Good News
05 – Fortress
06 – Different Drugs
07 – Into The Earth
08 – My True Name
09 – Virtue
10 – Exes
11 – Living Lux
12 – Eden
13 – New Blood
14 – Paraíso
15 – Evening Song
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