THEN COMES SILENCE are billed as a post-punk trio, even “the guardians of Swedish post-punk”. I’ve never understood quite what that post-punk phrase means but apart from their mode of dress here I don’t perceive much that’s punky about them. New wave, dark wave, gothic, well yes, that’s a different matter altogether.
‘Judgement Day’ is the first taste of their eighth album, ‘Requiem Ballroom’, which is out on November 20th.
The song concerns themes of failure, bad decisions, poor behaviour and living without regrets and how they can be celebrated in the 21st century. That sounds quite Swedish but it will resonate too with listeners in the UK where bad decisions are routine and failure exalted. Just ask the government.
I’m not sure if ‘Judgement Day’ refers to appearing before the Beak as a young offender (“We bailed early from the judgement day”) or whether it’s a metaphor for something much bigger, junking the system entirely before it gets a grip on you and running off to live on berries in the woods.
However you read it, it’s anthemic where idealistic youth is concerned.
Musically, it’s dark-ish but light at the same time. The catchy five note electro-pop introduction might have come from the Albanian entry at Eurovision this year and they cleverly retain it in the background throughout, even allowing it to play the song out, as a contrast to the heavy riff and beat of the rhythm section just as white contrasts with black in the video (see later).
Which takes me to the video; this is Video of the Week after all.
I was immediately struck by the early similarity to the video for Ambage’s ‘Blank Vision’, one of the most impressive videos I’ve ever seen and which also features an almost blindingly white background.
Where Ambage’s contrasting colour was blood red (it’s a violent video), that of THEN COMES SILENCE is black. Singer Alex even changes into a black outfit part way through and is complemented by hordes of black-clad Goths, a black and white kaleidoscope and even a b&w umbrella.
It’s always a matter of choices. It’s there in black and white. That’s the message as I see it anyway.
Visually, it’s a Gothic Rocky Horror Show starring Gary Numan’s brother and the cast of said horror show and of A Clockwork Orange.
I love it.
Divided into two parts (‘Ballroom’ and ‘Requiem’), the forthcoming album promises “a dark, driving blend of gothic rock, post-punk and darkwave” that the band is also taking on the road this autumn with dates in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Czech Republic and Sweden.
Unfortunately that list again doesn’t include the UK, something we see far too often these days. I know there are barriers and impediments but some bands do find a way around them and hopefully more will do the same in the future.
Band Members: Alex Svenson-Metés – bass, lead vocals, keyboards · Jonas Fransson – drums, backing vocals · Hugo Zombie – guitars.
Find them on:
Website: https://thencomessilence.eu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thencomessilence
Bandcamp: https://thencomessilence.
