The rule these days is, breakout EP followed by lukewarm album. Except for every legendary band ever who followed an EP with an even better album and on into greatness. After a very hyped and admittedly good debut EP, Silent Alarms doesn’t just maintain Bloc Party’s post-dance-punk appeal, it blows the fucking lid off. Singer Kele Okereke’s powerful voice expands on the Brit-cock attitude to absolutely soar, at times as strong as a young Bono, though he’s not hit the same range – yet. Duel guitars slash and grab every maneuver they attempt, creating a wall of sound made up of open fret strumming and gingerly delayed notes while the drums quicken your pulse and the bass forces you to exhale just before you’ve forgotten to breathe. The final status of this album will be decided as much by Bloc Party’s longer career as anything found on the disc itself. But they’ve already excavated the missing link between post-punk and U2, which is one helluva start.

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