A little over three months after our previous visit, Jerneja and I once again found ourselves heading to Castelfranco Veneto and its welcoming Improve Club. This modern yet intimate venue hosted the excellent Sine Lumine Fest in June, featuring Ash Code, TourdeForce, Danser La Nuit and Lumière Sombre (you can read the concert report HERE). This time, however, the focus was firmly on post-punk, with Sweden's Then Comes Silence and Denmark's The Foreign Resort sharing the bill. Having never seen either band live before, our expectations were understandably high.

We arrived at the venue a couple of hours before the concert, having arranged an interview with Then Comes Silence. The conversation took place in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, and readers can really look forward to it.

Long before the first band took to the stage, the venue's DJs were already filling the room with a carefully selected soundtrack of darkwave, goth and dark electro. Surprisingly, attendance initially seemed rather sparse. Even thirty minutes before the scheduled start, the audience could almost have been counted on one hand. Fortunately, that changed quickly. Shortly after 22:00, remarkably punctual by Italian club-concert standards, The Foreign Resort took to the stage, and the venue began to fill up, including several familiar faces, though not quite to the same extent as during June's festival.

The Danish post-punk/dark rock trio proved to be the perfect opening act. We had intended to catch them a few weeks earlier at NCN Festival, but unfortunate timetable clashes made that impossible. In hindsight, perhaps it was for the best, as seeing them here came as an even more pleasant surprise. The sound suffered from a few minor issues during the opening moments, but these were quickly resolved. Once everything settled, the band delivered an impressive performance full of conviction and energy, drawing enthusiastic reactions from the steadily growing crowd. With each song, the atmosphere intensified and the audience responded with increasingly loud applause.

Their music balances post-punk and gothic rock foundations with driving punk energy, groove, memorable melodies and a strong sense of melancholy. Without unnecessary stage theatrics or excessive crowd interaction, the band let the music do the talking. Frontman Mikkel, wearing a simple "Gegen Nazis" T-shirt, made his own statement without uttering a word. Mikkel, who handled both vocals and bass throughout most of the set, together with guitarist Steffan, generated a wonderfully raw dynamic on stage. Equally crucial was drummer Morten, whose powerful and precise playing provided the backbone that allowed every song to hit with maximum impact.

Tracks from this year's excellent album Endurance, released via Artoffact Records, featured prominently. Songs such as "Resound", "Endurance", "Overturn" and "Everything Is A Lie" sounded outstanding in a live setting. Equally effective were selections from earlier releases, particularly the closing "Dark White" from 2014's New Frontiers. Overall, The Foreign Resort delivered an honest, energetic and thoroughly engaging performance centred largely around material from these two albums, leaving a lasting impression on everyone present.

Following a break of roughly thirty minutes, during which the DJ maintained the evening's suitably dark atmosphere, it was finally time for Sweden's post-punk heavyweights Then Comes Silence.

Consisting of Alex Svenson (vocals, bass), the band's sole remaining original member, alongside Jonas Fransson (drums) and Hugo Zombie (guitar), the trio delivered exactly what we had hoped for, and perhaps even more. By then, the venue was comfortably full and the audience was clearly ready for the evening's main attraction.

The band's distinctive blend of post-punk melancholy and raw rock intensity translated beautifully to the live environment. A powerful, well-balanced sound, coupled with a tasteful dark lighting scheme and the obligatory clouds of stage fog, created the perfect backdrop for the performance. Alex Svenson commands attention in a uniquely understated manner, often appearing almost lost within the band's sonic universe while simultaneously embodying its atmosphere perfectly. Hugo Zombie, meanwhile, brings an unmistakable rock'n'roll presence that ensures the stage remains visually dynamic throughout the set.

Behind the front line of Alex Svenson and Hugo Zombie, Jonas Fransson delivered a masterclass in drumming, contributing significantly to the balance of energy, darkness and hypnotic intensity that characterises Then Comes Silence. Interestingly, much of the set drew from Blood, the band's outstanding 2017 album. Naturally, material from Nyctophilian (2015), Machine (2020), Hunger (2022) and Trickery (2024) also featured prominently. Only the band's first two albums remained unrepresented. The audience was additionally treated to "Remaker Redeemer" and the relatively new "Judgement Day", both lifted from the forthcoming album Requiem Ballroom.

Highlights such as "Dark End", "Like A Hammer", "Warm Like Blood" and "Mercury" were met with enthusiastic dancing and thunderous applause, although in truth each of the approximately fifteen songs performed received an equally warm reception. When the main set concluded, it was immediately apparent that nobody was ready for the evening to end. After a few minutes of anticipation, the band returned to the stage for an encore featuring "We Lose The Night" and "Strangers". Their seventy-five-minute performance felt far too short, which is perhaps the greatest compliment one can pay a live band. I suspect everyone present would agree.

The evening did not end with the concert itself. Local DJs Rusty Nail and Alless took over afterwards, keeping the dancefloor alive with an excellent selection of darkwave, gothic, industrial and dark electro tracks.

We spent most of that time outside, talking with members of both bands, particularly Mikkel from The Foreign Resort, with whom we ended up having the longest and perhaps most interesting conversation of the night. Between occasional trips back inside the club and out again, and of course the excellent company, the hours passed remarkably quickly. Before we knew it, it was three in the morning. The venue had thinned out a little by then, although many clearly remained until the very end. As for us, we headed off, with the next day's seaside adventures already awaiting us.

Overall, the evening lived up to or even exceeded our expectations. Both bands delivered outstanding performances, and the organisers once again demonstrated why Improve Club has become one of the most appealing venues in the region for lovers of dark alternative music. If future events are anything like this one, Jerneja and I will gladly keep returning to the club, even if getting there requires a rather lengthy drive.

Report written by Tomaz

Photos by Tomaz

Links: Then Comes Silence, The Foreign Resort, Sine Lumine