The Rock that Was: Blitz – Second Empire Justice

I’ve got a very special treat for you all tonight: a DL link to an album that I think is absolutely fantastic. Blitz was an 80s post-punk (though previously just hardcore) band in the general vein of Joy Division or The Cure, and their album Second Empire Justice is absolutely killer. 

I tried to find a good review, but I haven’t come across much of any. Therefore, you’ll have to make do with my own rather scattered thoughts on the album:

The album starts off with a kind of auditory tribute to the deservedly famous “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” with their own take, entitled “Flowers and Fire.” And that’s not a bad thing. In my mind, these ex-Oi Oi Oi types pushed what Joy Division was doing into new areas. You’ll hear echoes of “Love…” throughout the album, especially in “Into the Daylight.” But what makes Blitz’s sophomore effort stand out is the ways they differ: though the goth and eurodance overtones are there, there’s also a intense dedication to a more ambient, Eno-esque fuzz soundscapes, resulting in a kind of ur-shoegaze. So what comes across is a more contemplative sound, one where the vocals take a backseat to the guitar lines, leaving you awash in a kind of glittering, alien sea of distortion. You can definitely imagine My Bloody Valentine sitting around listening to this album. Then there are simple rockers that somehow channel that into a weird, beer-hall type chanting, like on “White Man,” which are hauntingly incantatory. The entire album has a kind of classic science-fiction vibe, like the kind of music you’d get wandering through a Asimovian landscape, or the dystopian cities conjured up out of Gibson’s Neuromancer.

Anyway, that’s a shitty review, but you get the general sense of it, I hope. 

Link’s in the comments section. As ever, these are just links I find, so RIAA, ’tain’t my fault.