"To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd!”
William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Usually we start at the end. The Big Bag generated a Universe. It's simple, I don't think so. Realizing that things has to end, could be pretty tough. But it's the only way to unsure a progression, an evolution. Dinosaurs exstintion facilitated our rising. We, literally, started existing after the death of an, almost, entire species. What about life afterwards? We feed from dead animals, mostly. Mufasa would call it The Cycle of Life, I call it reality. But accepting it, it's kinda hard. Accepting the fact that after our death there won't be anything, it would be different if we're living in a simulation, is tough. What do we do to cope with it? Religion, and I'm not talking about believing in an imaginary dude, or multiple dudes, who supposedly knows better. I'm talking about worshipping. We worship almost everything today: fame, money, politics, fictional characters, singers,.... It gives us solace. And we stand there, chilling in a golden cage crafted by our feeble mind who are too afraid to admit that death exist. It's only when you begin to crumbling down and ageing that you start respecting and dreading it. It shakes you to the bone the fact that you're going to turn into dust. What's the best way to adress this being who's called many names and has no face?
Maybe we need to embrace it for what it is. A cold, distant and good friends who reminds us to use our life at the best of our possibilities, to not waste any chance of being better, to share our existence with someone who loves us.
Maybe we need to let death being our inspiration, as the Arts did. Poets, Artists, Writers and Musicians have found a great source of ideas in it. Morrigan and all its forms has been celebrated for centuries, perpetuating his mottling cry and dark cloak.
Like The Comes Silence, a Swedish postpunk band from Stockholm. A group which opened for Fields Of The Nephilim and Chameleons Vox in Germany in 2018 and are more frequently a part of the line-up on the festivals in Europe. The same year, Seth Kapadia and Jens Karnstedt left the band and Mattias Ruejas Jonson (ex A PROJECTION) and Spanish born Hugo Zombie (ex Los Carniceros Del Norte) became the new members of the band.
A band who produces music to touch people's heart and mind. The passion for music has been there since a young age, as Hugo says:
"It started as a child, one of the first music memories that i have is a The Beatles tape of their early stuff that my father had. I think that's when i felt in love with rock n' roll. Also i remember watching music videos on the TV, like Michael Jackson "Thriller", Duran Duran "Wild Boys", The Clash "Should Stay or Should i Go", and they impressed little me a lot. I guess i just wanted to be as cool as them and music was the way to follow"
An experienced which left its mark, because The Clash, The Cramps & Ramones inspired him afterwards. Mattias, on the other hand, is influenced more by movie soundtracks, Jonas by punk band like Killing Joke and Cortex and Alex told us his cool process which helped him to find his muses:
"As a kid, ABBA, AC/DC and KISS. As a teen Dead Kennedys. In my mid 20's the Latin American music culture. In my mid 30's electronic music and now... I'm back into punk and early 70's rock music"
And Alex is the one who also finds inspiration from everything which surround him, good and bad things. An ideology which influences his creative process:
"I write music all the time and I collect lyrics in my "book of lyrics". There's no certain moment or period for creativity. Only discipline and a vision in my head"
For them music as a relevant, almost central, role in their life, as Hugo says:
"Music is my passion, it made the person that i am now so i guess it's mostly represented in every interaction i have in life. It's been a bit difficult to deal with that during the pandemic, because of the complete change of lifestyle, but hopefully we'll be able to leave the cave soon, and rock like there's no tomorrow again"
As well as Jonas:
"Well, music is my life, hobby and profession. It's not everything, but allmost"
Apart from their music tastes which are about Delirium Cordia by Fantomás, Echoes by Pink Floyd and Anchor Song by Björk, they're also interested in movies and series like Rosemarys Baby, Alien, Joker, Chernobyl, Peaky Blinders, Stranger Things.
Today we're going to explore their latest album The Machine which has been defined:
"Sweden own Gothic Rock and Post-Punk heroes Then Comes SIience have yielded their best album with Machine, an intense collection of 11 tracks that are their most satisfying songs to date."
Post-Punk.com
"Then Comes Silence win our Soundcheck and album of the month for the second time in a row with Machine. Hardly any band have made this in 25 years of Sonic Seducer."
Thomas Voguel (Sonic Seducer)
It's a dark album about everything sinister and upsetting. An ode to the macabre and gruesome things which are part of our life, like death. A return to their roots after their previous album Blood.
“I wanted to take a different turnaway from the path and not make just another Blood”
An album which has been hard to produce:
“In 2016 we sprinkled the recordings with cashand had no idea how to calculate the cost. We had a generous budget for a small band and no experience how to use it. We believed we could lean back and take the ride. The hangover came later”
And also hard to write, as Björn Springorum wrote about it:
"Machine was a very painful album to write, in many ways a return to their humble beginnings as a Swedish underground phenomenon. The gripping beats, the eerily cold melodies, the wintry guitars and those ghostly hooks prove it was all worth it – even the “lost album” written by Alex before even starting on “Machine”. It all lead to this point. It all lead to seductive, gloomy anthems like “We Lose The Night”, “Dark End” or “Kill It”. Mixed by legend Stefan Glaumann (Rammstein, Deathstars, Killing Joke), Then Comes Silence come full circle and finally sound like they ever wanted to – “like ice cold water running through a pipe of stainless steel on a November morning.” Hearts will be melted. Blood will freeze"
We Lose the Night is the first track of this album. I like its style and rythm, it's pretty catchy.
The following is Devil, which starts with a good bass strum. It's pretty similar to the previous songs for a while but it distnces itself from We Lose the Night with what I consider a better refrain. The Devil seems to be representing our fears or remorse. Overall a pretty good track.
Dark End is characterized by a slower rythm which amps up a little during the refrain. It isn't as good as the previous one but I like its style. It seems to be about the creepers, the people who likes to stalk and psychologically influence the victim. It's a pretty hard theme to talk about. It could also be referred to the Grim Reaper, who stalks us behind the light of life.
The next one is I Gave You Everything, which has a cool intro, one of the coolest. I think that this song is about a sad and enraged person who has been left, or worse, by his or her partner. It's interesting the fact that has been added the phrase And it was worth it, which underline the fact that the person is mature enough to accept the split.
Ritual is a song which features Karolina Engdahl. I think that her functions well in the song, because it gives us a softer voice. I think that this song refers to a Satanic Ritual and the featured singer represents the sacrificial virgin. This song elevates itself over the previous ones, because she brings something new and unexpected to the album.
Apocalypse Flare is a song about an apocalypse, as the site suggest, but I interpret it as a metaphor for sex and making love. The experience is compared to watching the cataclysms unveil before our eyes.
W.O.O.U. is the one who starts with a slower rythm but then increase it, making it more enjoyable. The meaning of this acronym is present in the refrain and its expresses the feeling of being part of a group. I like the fact that the acronim sounds like a jubilation. Pretty interesting choice of words.
In Your Name is a pounding song which gets right into the vocal part. Drums are highly relevant because they allows the song to be have a clear rythm and, I think, a more gritty outlook.
The following is Glass, which has a great start. I like how the bass are used here. I can say that the bass riffs are just amazing. The song seems like a cautionary tale for people who like to live dangerously.
Kill It has a weird incipit but I like how they wanted to slow down for this track. It's a piece which seems perfect for a slow dance. It's one of the most tender piece of this album. I like the fact that here they wanted to focus on the lyrics. This is also the longest track but I think that it fits the style of this song.
The last one is Cuts Inside, which is about the scars left by a wrong relationship or experience. This song seems like a wail and it evokes sad and haunting emotions. It isn't an optimistic piece but it exhorts the audience to look forward and don't look back because the feeling could worsen. It could be about the sense of powerlessness inflicted by Death.
Then Comes Death is a remarkable postpunk and goth rock band which deal with interesting themes like Death in a mature and fascinating way. I think that you should check them out because they know their craft and have clear ideas about what they want to express. This is also a band who has a clear idea about their future and what they want to achieve.
"We're in constant motion, so right now we are working on the next album. Finally we will be able to tour again, so there's a lot of preparations and planning"
I want to leave with the sharp words of Alex, who's experienced Death firsthand and wanted to make us part of his struggle, to feel how he faced the black cloak of fate.
"There’s absolutely no meaning in rebelling against death. Even though death is bringing grief and pain to the ones left behind, we have to accept the fact it’s everyone’s final destination. Its’ supposed to be that way. Deal with it. We’re all going there. If we talk about death, sing about death and think about death regularly we might feel better and appreciate everything around us more. Maybe we could reach a higher quality inside. I think about death everyday and that makes me a nicer person I’m sure"
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