Album Review: Enter Shikari - Common Dreads

Album: Common Dreads
Artist: Enter Shikari
Singles: Antwerpen (free download), Juggernauts

Enter Shikari's new album is not as good as their first, but still has its defining moments. It has plenty of references to the first album as well - which I'll point out below. Anyway, the album sounds great in general. Just not as good as Take To The Skies.

Common Dreads
We open with a typical Enter Shikari skit, just like on their first album. A dark and spooky voice reads out a poem, with children's voices joining in, before people saying "we must unite" in several languages. Then back with the spooky voice: "And we must let the floodgates open." OK. The oddities are over. Now comes the line, "Here tonight, I clock a thousand heads, here to unite, through common dreads!"

Solidarity
The last line of the previous track leads into a powerful and fast electric song, that really gets you going. After a powerful opening, it goes into some weird electronic sounds with drumming intervals. Quite odd. Then comes the third part of the song, which sounds like a hands-in-the-air moment for live shows. Here comes our first Take To The Skies reference, as a choir sing "and still we will be here, standing like statues" (which was sung in three songs on the bands' debut) It is amazing how they can fit three different parts of a song into just over three minutes, but it is a fantastic start to the album.

Step Up
Straight after this, electronic sounds come in to segue into this equally as fast song. It is a much more head-banging song from the band (not without precedent) but still good. The chorus sounds great too. A sure crowd-pleaser.

Juggernauts
The brilliant opening single with Mike Skinner-esque vocals as "Now, don't get me wrong, I love what you've done with the place" is sung. It's a minute longer than the single as well. They have extended the middle bit and we get another round of "I'm not saying that we could do better..." and the "Imagine... imagine..." bit fades out leaving the background playing. The other change is the ending. We get a few more lines there as well. It hasn't changed the wonders of this song.

Wall
We start to calm down now with a calm verse where it sounds like they're singing about calling people walls... wait, what? I'm sure there's some symbolism in there somewhere. Never mind that, this sounds really good, and has a superb buildup to the chorus, which in turn, changes the song as "It's glorious outside" is shouted over the catchy background.

Zzzonked
Hmm... sounds really like Hadouken!, only a lot heavier. The song doesn't change that much until some electronic sounds round it off. I'm not too keen on this song, but it does grow after a few listens.

Havoc A
"The lions are at the door," opens this electronically based song. Heard on the teaser for Common Dreads. Then before it sounds like it's going to get going, we realise it's only a skit. Damn. Oh well, there's a Havoc B! Oh, and there's a reference to the first album (well, a B-side from it - an awesome B-side though), as we get "Just another day in the acid nation"

No Sleep Tonight
Another reference to the first album: "You and me, we're going to take to the skies." That aside, this is a fantastic song, the chorus being a highlight, as Rou screams "You're not... getting any sleep tonight," one of the best from this album.

Gap In The Fence
A slow ballad, we start with a buildup to a great mixture of voices and some light drums, before the song welcomes in a chant of "Whoa...oh, oh, oh!" with some fantastic electronic background noises. More brilliance.

Havoc B
As you can guess, the sequel to Havoc A. But the sequel never tends to be as good as the first. As is the case here. Oh and "the lions are at the door" again. This ends with what sounds like a protest or a demonstration: "Shut down the war machines! All this killing is obscene!"

Antwerpen
The free download. It's heavy and powerful, particularly at about a minute in, when the song gives way to a mix of electronics and guitar. Good stuff.

The Jester
Once you get past the boring, light-hearted music at the front, you get some screaming in Enter Shikari fashion, before the song wanders off and goes very electronic, which will have keep the crowds happy live. Then we get the light-hearted music again at the end. Odd combination.

Halcyon
Just a little jingly skit to prelude Hectic.

Hectic
Fantastic. After the powerful intro, we get some piano, then the song goes into its chorus, before launching in some fantastic sounds that Enter Shikari seem to be producing on this album.

Fanfare For The Conscious Man
Not a great way to end the album. I'm not very keen on this one either. It's just a load of political arguments with some music in the background. But when it gets going, it gets going really well. It makes you want to sing along when the lyrics "We'll be together against this..." come in.

In general, different and not as good as Take To The Skies, but still shows that Enter Shikari are still great.

For the record, their previous albums: Take To The Skies (9/10)