Then Comes Silence - Hunger

Then Comes Silence's 2022 album Hunger is a highly-regarded, polished work of dark post-punk and gothic rock that solidifies the band's signature sound with a masterful blend of guitars, synths, and energetic rhythms. While some critics found certain tracks underwhelming, most reviews praise Hunger as a cohesive, consistent, and compelling album featuring strong songwriting, infectious hooks, and stand-out tracks like "Ticket to Funerals" and "Rise to the Bait".

When watching the news, it can seem like the apocalypse is looming over us. Whether it’s climate change, the rising cost of living, or anything else dire, the world seems a lot more grey nowadays. Even the music – which is often used as an escape – can seem down on its luck. However, in the darkness, there is always a light. And that is where THEN COMES SILENCE come into play. Their new album, Hunger, is about hope. The Swedish gothic post-punkers offer a light at the end of the tunnel on their sixth studio album.
Across 11 songs, Hunger brings the positivity to the forefront. Despite the depressing name, Tickets To Funerals is a heavy, electronic rock song. The upbeat track is a fantastic introduction to the album. The instruments are the main focus of the song, and the electronic rock sounds natural. Rise To The Bait is a little more mellow; however, it still maintains the upbeat vibe of the first song. Interestingly, it is more focused on the vocals. This is not a bad thing as it gives frontman Alex Svenson a chance to show off his talented voice. His vocals are the kind that could suit any genre of music; however, it is extremely well-suited to this type of music.
Six albums in, you’d be worried that THEN COMES SILENCE have lost their sound. That’s understandable, considering that six albums is a lot to release. But the band are smarter than that. They come back more confident than ever on this album. The gothic lyrics show this. Whether it is talking about “the beauty of darkness” on Cold From Inside or when the “weird get strange” on Weird Get Strange, the band are always embracing the unknown.
As for the music? The sound is consistent throughout the album. The pacing is not affected by any of the songs. Furthermore, the sound progresses from electronic-tinged goth rock into full-blown goth rock. This is a clever way of taking the audience on a journey as the album plays. However, it would have been nice for the electronic elements to have stayed for more than the first couple of songs, because they worked very well with rock sound. Additionally, whilst Hunger is a very good album in its own right, and the band have clearly stuck to what they know, this is also an issue. It would’ve been nice to see some experimentation on the album, because the hints of what we get are very good. Mixing up the sound could have also made each song sound unique because sometimes the songs sound a bit similar.
Overall, Hunger is a very good album. Does it sometimes fall into the trappings of not exploring outside of the box? Yes, and that is a shame because when the album does go outside of the box, it is fantastic and works really well. Apart from that, the album is cohesive, and the band clearly know what they are doing with their music, it’s just that it just can feel a little underwhelming sometimes.

Then Comes Silence – Machine

The self-styled “Swedish captains of post-punk,” Then Comes Silence have been making music since 2012. Although the band’s earlier records were far rawer in production, sounding a bit more bombastic and akin to something like Killing Joke, the third album, III – Nyctophilian was much closer to the group’s current sound as it began to channel the fuzzy, deep bass lines that would eventually solidify the band as a post-punk force that shouldn’t be ignored. Following a tour with Fields of the Nephilim in 2018 and a shift in the band’s line up, 2020’s Machine is an excellent offering that shows the maturation of a very distinctive sound. “We Lose the Night” is destined to get stuck in many heads for it’s a catchy, danceable, and compelling opener that establishes a great tone for the rest of the record. Machine feels better assembled than previous records and is very tightly mastered; the instruments are prominent without overshadowing the smoky vocals from Alex Svenson, which don’t stray too far from the same modality, but that’s okay as anything else would likely feel at odds with the dark mood of the record. The bass line is as heavy and powerful as a riptide on “I Gave You Everything,” an unrelenting anthem of personal doom that’s one of the best songs on the album. Each vibrating thrum of the bass is a step further down into the gloom before hitting the chorus and launching up into a flash of frustration. This alternating up-and-down of music, vocals, and lyrics is a great demonstration of the band’s talent. Then Comes Silence can rest comfortably alongside Clan of Xymox, Rosetta Stone, and Bauhaus. Svenson’s vocals stray from David Bowie to Peter Murphy to Andrew Eldritch, well paired with the soaring notes of guest vocalist Karolina Engdahl on the track “Ritual.” Musically and lyrically, the record is a foggy glass of cold water on a frigid autumn morning, all at once sobering and comforting. A nostalgic listening experience sure to remind many of The Cure at its best, Machine is an unmissable entry in the annals of goth/rock and/or post-punk.

Damned And To Hell With It - The Foreign Resort & Then Comes Silence

I'm popping down to London this very day, a spot of shopping before my birthday and a gig tonight with two of my very favourite bands. I can't actually take all three of you with me, but as I am a kind and sharing kinda guy/gurl (mysteries of the flesh) it seemed that I should re-up this dark and melodic file brimmed full with the two bands that I'm going to be drinking with later. So, as we’re all going to hell anyways, I thought (it's going to be a very stressful day) that I would share some quieter moments with the collected stinking mass of humanity who happen upon this small oasis on a regular basis. By quieter, I actually mean noisier, but sitting alone in a darkened room, headphones (because pods just ain’t gonna cut it) at the ready, volume at 11 and that familiar crackle as the needle touches down. You slide the ‘phones down over your ears, eager to listen, and with baited breath, ready to sing along.

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

Fuck Yeah! I know how to live my best life.

Then Comes Silence - Then Comes Silence

A fascination of death, doom, spiritualism and corruption has gathered the members of Then Comes Silence, together with a predisposition towards post-punk, goth, shoegaze and psychedelia. I’m gonna be honest with you; at first, I didn’t really like Then Comes Silence album. When I got this death obsessed record, played it once and thought it could be one single song repeated over and over again. In one word; repetitive. Three months later, my opinion had evolved. More importantly, the band and its gothic touch have this little something that most shoegazing bands do not and may never have. This eponymous debut album from 2012 probably needs a bit of time to get into your veins. So who’s the creative force behind this? Hard to tell precisely, since the band members want to remain anonymous; they “see themselves as not important and do not want to interfere with the experience”. The presence of Alex Svenson from the brilliant band Sad Day For Puppets at the production desk gives us a clue. Then Comes Silence manages to bring darkness and romantic death together in one moment of bloody ecstasy.