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Apr 29, 2022Alpha Games shows a great band engaging with their sound yet growing and expanding.
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Classic Rock MagazineApr 28, 2022Guitarist Russell Lissack counters the intoxicating synthetics with some of his most powerful work yet. ... Elemental. [May 2022, p.80]
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Apr 28, 2022‘Alpha Games’ is an exciting return with addictive hooks and array of infectious album stand outs.
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Apr 28, 2022Alpha Games is a reconfiguration of sorts. It’s not imitating the earlier works in Bloc Party’s catalog so much as it is building from them. Produced by Adam Greenspan and Nick Launay (IDLES, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nick Cave), their latest creation is an exceptional addition to their arsenal.
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Apr 29, 2022As uneven as the album can be, it's never a simple rehash of Bloc Party's glory days. Adam Greenspan and Nick Launay's tight production gives Alpha Games a leaner attack than Silent Alarm, and while the moments of beauty that balance the band's outbursts are in shorter supply, they're all the sweeter when they appear.
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Apr 28, 2022At times, Alpha Games does hark back to the glorious early days of Bloc Party, and while this doesn’t quite measure up to Silent Alarm, there’s enough evidence that the band’s line-up changes have reinvigorated them.
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Apr 29, 2022Alpha Games should please their established fanbase, but Bloc Party still sound strangely ambivalent, trapped between the visceral thrill of lean, modern guitar music and their doubts about its form and function.
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MojoApr 28, 2022BP retain a youthful fixation with personal drama, biting lyrics and angular guitars, laced with keyboards. [Jun 2022, p.94]
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Apr 28, 2022Alpha Games is the sound of a band trying to reignite its former flame, while simultaneously digging its heels so deep into unfamiliar territory, it can’t even reach the lighter.
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May 6, 2022The album’s best hooks feature Bartle duetting with Okereke, a new trick in Bloc Party’s repertoire. These strengths are even more frustrating because they reveal an alternative path to the binary rut in which this band has been stuck for 10 years.
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UncutApr 28, 2022“Sex Magik” and “If We Get Caught” offer unashamedly lusty visions punctuated by agreeable glimpses of pop glitter. Otherwise, though, waspish, charismatically delivered lyrics are let down by workaday instrumental backing. [Jun 2022, p.25]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 12 out of 14
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Mixed: 2 out of 14
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Negative: 0 out of 14
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Apr 29, 2022
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May 2, 2022Dynamic and energetic with moments harking back to songs of their earlier catalog while also exploring new territory.
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Apr 29, 2022