Spiral Of Silence – Landmark

“Brings something more accessible to post punk/new wave” – Luminous Dash

Spiral Of Silence started as a cold wave band in the early 1990’s (think Bauhaus, Joy Division and Siglo XX) and grew into an influential part of the genre in the early 2000’s.

Spiral of Silence (or ‘SPOS’ as they were called by their fans) was often referred to as ‘The Belgian Joy Division’ and played shows with artists like Gary Numan, Chameleons, DAF, Echo & The Bunnymen and Front 242.

The Belgians delivered 2 cold-wave classics – ‘LEAP’ (1998) and ‘dEcAdEnT’ (2002) – and a handful of singles before going on indefinite hiatus. During the absence of the band these albums took on a life of their own with the rise of social media (Leap now goes for silly prices on Discogs) and the worldwide fan base continued to grow steadily, despite the band being almost completely inactive for nearly 20 years.

Spiral of Silence had several successful years with performances on the main stage of Gottik Treffen in Germany (in front of a frenzied crowd of 10,000 black coats), a sold out Kuipke in Ghent, shows at the legendary Vooruit etc. They toured with Antonio Palermo from Siglo XX as guitarist and artists such as Kloot Per W participated in the production of their second album, dEcAdEnT. The Ian Curtisian voice of singer Tom Van Troyen got the band on a New Order tribute album (Retroforward Records, US) – with a cover of Dead Souls.

This was long before bands like Editors and Whispering Sons openly raved about their fondness for Joy Division.

 Eventually – around 2004 – it became quiet around Spiral of Silence (look for the pun :)) – except for a number of reunion concerts (in Belgium, UK and the Netherlands). Drummer Achiel Keppens went his own way (under his alter ego Phil Jacks, but also as drummer of Kloot Per W with whom he did a mini tour at the end of 2019 – together with Mauro Pawlowski) and singer Tom Van Troyen joined his childhood idols Siglo XX on their ‘farewell tour’.

But there is such a thing as “old love does not rust.” In 2021 – almost 20 years after their last official release – the band released 2 new singles (the covid-inspired track ‘Toll’ and the more up-tempo ‘Wish’). Old and new fans appreciating the new tracks, the band recorded a third single (‘Get In The Car’) – to be released in May 2022. The 3 singles plus 2 bonus tracks will be available on Spiral’s new EP – ‘LANDMARK’.

A limited number of CDs will be made available (released by Jezus Factory Records – May 2022) and the band started touring again, playing shows like Sinner’s Day – with bands like Section 25, Peter Hook & The Light, Sigue Sigue Sputnik and The Jesus & Mary Chain.