When something is hyped too much there is a tendency to dislike it instinctively. So when Bloc Party came along and got their pretty faces on the front of NME although they were just barely formed and had most of the British muso press salivating and hyperventilating and all, it was easy enough to scoff before we'd even heard a song.

Look at the trendy ever so slightly dishevelled haircuts, the stripy T-shirts, the strategically placed wristband, the poserish poses. Their post punky guitar pop sounded ever so zeitgeisty. It's like The Strokes meets Franz Ferdinand said somebody. And then you read they went to art school. We could hear the backlash forming from here.

So it was with no little trepidation that we approached Silent Alarm, their debut album. But we shouldn't of been so cynical. Silent Alarm is the best debut we've heard in quite a while. Yes, even better than FF. It's thirteen energetic, ambitious, confident, adventurous, brilliantly tight, hook filled, properly put together four minutes or so of ultra stylish guitar pop genius. So they get to wear the stripy T-shirts and trendy wristbands.

Things kick off with the rolling drums and snapping, jerking guitars of Like Eating Glass and then last year's single Helicopter. It's a jumpy, glorious start that has you interested right away. 'Are you hoping for a miracle?' asks singer Kele Okereke, and if things keep up like this, then you never know.

Just to prove they can they tone things down just a little for a while with the dreamy Blue Light, and you can hear all the teenage hearts breaking. By the time you get to This Modern Love 'You told me you wanted to eat up my sadness' it seems like they are taking on Radiohead's Creep. 'Well jump on, enjoy, you can gorge away'. Wow.

Like we say, Bloc Party are not short of confidence, 'You’re just as boring as everyone else,' sings Kele on Positive Tension. 'I can heal the blind, I can cure the sick', says Luno. 'We promised the world we'd tame it' goes Pioneers. Well they're well on the way. They've stuff to say too. Bush, Kyoto, and people too scared to live are put in their place with intelligent, crafty, and sometimes funny lyrics.

Bloc Party are far too focused for self indulgent ramblings. There's an almost obsessive focus on structure, with no messing around with Franz Ferdinand style time changes, or Libertines like shambolic song construction, each track here is a straight down the line solid pop rock song. The Cure are a reference point. You get the feeling they've jumped right past their youthful experimentation phase and are now a fully grown up band. If you wanted to be hyper critical you could say that such perfection is almost too much for a rock record. But saying they are too good is hardly criticism.

It was around this time last year that Franz Ferdinand burst into everyone's life, and it is pretty certain that Bloc Party are in line to follow them right to the main stages at this year's summer festivals. The difference being that where FF's debut was a bit up and down in places, Silent Alarm is bang on the button all the way through. Okereke sounds just a little bit like Damon Albarn and there is a good chance Bloc Party will end up Blur big. Yes, Blur big.

So it's all, or most of it anyway, true. Bloc Party are rhythmically superb, aesthetically pleasing, lyrically sound and just very, very good.

first published on oxygen.ie