Is this the end of the road for Bloc Party as a recording act?
I remember a fan talking to Kele back in the day, and privately he was really hurt but Intimacy’s mixed reception at the time. And if he was hurt by that, jeez imagine what he's feeling now. Since then every Bloc album, no matter how maligned, has justified its existence in some way. Four was one last attempt at getting classic Bloc to work. Hymns was the band trying to prove the band could still exist without Matt or Gordy. Alpha Games was them debuting the Lousie version of the band. Whether you love them or hate them, they exist for a good reason.
This time Kele got to work with one of his all time idols, and he really put his heart and soul into telling a story with the lyrics this time around. The result? The commercial numbers for the singles are in the toilet, and the reviews are easily the worst of their career. Not even The Love Within got this level of hate. Anatomy has career-ender written all over it.
It’s telling that the most amount of attention they’ve received in the past 10 years has been touring Silent Alarm. It was meant to be a one-off tour, but they’ve done it over and over since then. At this point, they must know making new albums is losing them money and actively harming their brand. I wonder if with Anatomy the writing will be on the wall - it’s time to become an oldies act. They can still go out and tour Silent Alarm and other old stuff, and Kele can fulfil his creative urges by releasing another 100 solo albums. But surely after this, Bloc Party as recording artists are done.