aaamusic | On 06, Nov 2011

And there was me, thinking that the fetishism of The Jesus And Mary Chain had finally gotten old with The Great Glasvegas Fiasco of this year (Mary Chain indebted scots create stunning first album, then take three years to spunk it all up the wall with their second effort), but here come Danish three piece The Silent Section to show me just how wrong I really am. I’m sure this has occurred to them but the first thing you notice about The Silent Section is, ironically enough, just how heroically loud they are, they even have that guitar sound that blankets the song in what sounds like white noise all over opening track The Intoxicated Joy, but there’s a problem here. Quite a big problem. You know how mentioned Mary Chain fetishism at the start of this very review? Well, if you thought Glasvegas were guilty of that particular crime, then, my friend, you are not going to like this record…

 

Case in point, first single The Voice That Got Away, preposterous title aside, there is very little to be found here that hasn’t been done better on Psychocandy, the loping pace, the simple song underneath all the bluster, the “could-care-less” attitude of the lead singer, the wince-inducing, lemon juice on a paper cut sting of the guitar solo and the sheer volume of it all. Luckily, second track Drifting Ahead Backwards, sheds this sound by, instead, taking on a mantle of utterly baffling dark electro-pop, that’s either Depeche Mode at their most unsettling or Vince Noir of The Mighty Boosh’s Kraftwerk Orange with a straight face, depending on how in thrall to irony you are. It doesn’t last, unfortunately (fortunately?) and instead goes back into aping Psychocandy’s every move, case in point No Admission To A Dream’s build up to sky scraping bluster, Breadline Story’s menacing intimacy.

 

In total, The Silent Section could end up what The Enemy were to The Jam, a kind of gateway drug, kids who’ve never heard of The Mary Chain get into The Silent Section, think they’re the greatest thing in the world, then discover what came before them and forget all about them, fortunately, The Enemy had the songs to live through the latter part of that cycle, and unfortunately the Silent Section don’t. So if this review made no sense to you whatsoever, chances are you’ll love The Silent Section, and more power to you, you’ve got something even better coming your way very, very soon.

 

Will Howard