If you're like me, you like bands and musicians who do it differently to everyone else. I like music that isn't confined to one genre. I like anything that's different,new, fresh. I like music that's unique. I like bands and musicians that have something different about them. Whoever thought of blending 90's Trance with hardcore riffs and shouting was a genius. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you, Enter Shikari.
Hailing from St. Albans, England, all four members of Enter Shikari (which means ''Enter the Hunter'' in Sindhi) really have created someting awesome. 'Take to the Skies' is their debut album release, after releasing 3 EP's - 'Nodding Aquaintance' (2003), 'Sorry You're Not A Winner (2003)', and 'Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour' respectively. Forming in 2003, they havn't stopped touring since. They have a huge underground following thanks to their unique and groundbreaking sound, and after turning down numerous big record contracts, they decided to in do it themselves through their own label, Ambush Reality. They're only the second band ever to sell out London's Astoria as an unsigned band. The only other act to do this was The Darkness. 2007 will be absolutely huge for them.
But enough of the history lesson, on to the album. 'Take to the Skies' has 17 songs, 8 of which have already been released on past EPs, Singles, or have been available to stream from the internet, and 6 are interludes, an intro or an outro. 3 of the tracks are brand new material. This, has to be said, is a bit of a shame if you're already a fan of the band, but when the album content is this good, it's definitely worth it, and these updated versions are just better in every way, except for one song in my opinion.
This limited edition version comes in a brown album sleeve with Enter Shikari in script on it, and the album title underneath it. The actual cover art however is exactly the same as the standard album - a greeny pink brown emblem with, what looks like a Red Indian and Aliens hugging a rather cheesed-off looking Earth... Different, yes, most definitely, but not amazing or something that screams out at you. But it's quite intriguing.
The Track Listing is as follows:
1. Stand Your Ground; This is Ancient Land 2. Enter Shikari 3. Mothership 4. Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour 5. Interlude 1 6. Labyrinth 7. No Sssweat 8. Today Won't Go Down in History 9. Interlude 2 10. Return To Energizer 11. Interlude 3 12. Sorry You're Not a Winner 13. Interlude 4 14. Jonny Sniper 15.
Adieu 16. OK Time for Plan B 17. Closing
4 interludes! Madness! But they are great little titbits of trance, and they tie the whole album together into what feels like a neverending song.
What's that I hear you cry, what about the limited edition DVD!? Well, here's the content for that:
Live footage of Labyrinth, The Feast, and Sorry You're Not a Winner, plus backstage antics and a photo slideshow (Filmed at London Astoria, November 4 2006).
That's a pretty complete package if you ask me. 17 tracks, and a limited edition DVD and cover/sleeve, all for £11.99 (play.com). But what excatly do Enter Shikari sound like? On to the Track by Track...
Stand Your Ground This is Ancient Land A great intro that does sound quite ''ancient-landish'' if you get what I mean... leads straight into...
Enter Shikari Sh*t!! Shouted. Twice. Nice start to a song. Really 'tingly' trance beat at the start, then a nice build up leads to an explosion of noise and jumping, and the chugging guitars really add to the song. Great singalong shout out at the end - ''And still we will be here, standing like statues'' Great song.
Mothership Fast beat, chugging guitars, screams and anthemic shouting throughout. This was the bands first single, and it's a live favourite. Really cool when the synth-like backing music kicks in half way through. The opening lyrics - ''Go tell all your friends, that this is the end'' just have to shouted along to.
Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour Absolutely amazing song. The energy in this tune is just immense. You'd think it was a dance anthem for the first 30 seconds, then the guitars come in. Absolutely awesome song to sing along too. Chorus is exceptionally strong. Great song to do that guitar throwing move to. One of my favourites.
Interlude 1 A minute long interlude linking the two songs. Quite slow and trippy, the sort of music you hear on tv shows when someone is under the influence of certain drugs common in the discotheque...
Labyrinth Great synth sound on this song, and a great, heavy part halfway through. After a little breakdown of sorts, the synths are back, and really add to this song. The ending, a nice little tingly trance like beat, changes into what sounds like a pneumatic drill, and goes straight into the fast as hell...
No Sssweat Fast. Drums, guitars, all fast. And then the chorus comes, and what a chorus. The contrast between the shouting and the melodious singing is great, and really makes the track stand out. A good song, but not the best by a long shot. The trance backing sounds almost like a soundtrack for an old games console, and a great drum beat.
Today Won't Go Down In History The weakest song on the album. The first 90 seconds are quiet and dull, and even when some noise does kick in, it's still dull. Uninspiring, and sounds a little unfinished. Just dull, dull, dull. The album could really do without this song. If you have the feintest interest in this band, don't listen to this song to see if you'll like them, it just doesn't give the band justice at all.
Interlude 2 This is a little callback to Enter Shikari (Track 2). All it is is the line ''And still we will be here, standing like statues'' chanted over and over again for about a minute and a half, getting louder and louder at first, then quieter at 60 seconds, over a synthish sound and some random robotic voice at the end.
Return To Energizer Very fast again. Personally, I don't like the shouting at the start of this song, it just doesn't sound right at all, and it's quite dissapointing, compared to the rest of the album. I also think they've made this song worse, I much prefer the older, unreleased version. However, the second half of the song is much better. There's a nice fat riff, and the line ''And all hell breaks lose, when you're not here'' sung over and over again is quite nice to sing to. I'm not sure if this song is based on, or dedicated to Quasar, the laser shooting Combat game or not, but it's certainly not their best material.
Interlude 3 Drum and bass. My fave of the interludes by far. Nice and simple, 18 seconds of pure drum and bass.
Sorry You're Not A Winner Bubbah-buh-buh-buh, bubbah-buh-buh-buh. Sweet riff. Ingenious song, especially the bit where everything goes quiet, followed by 3 quick claps, then the guitars start again. Credit to the drum work on this song as well. This is a fan favourite at gigs, and rightly so, the energy in this song, the contrast between the heavy verse, the more melodious chorus, and the trance-like bridge = genious. And the ending is kick ass.
Interlude 4 Starnge. Sounds like a royal precession. I havn't the foggiest why this is on the album, but it leads very neatly into...
Jonny Sniper According to the band at live gigs, this song is based on their Sex Eduacation lessons. It's about a Sniper who will shoot a condom onto your 'important bit' from a rooftop when the moment comes, so that you won't be having unprotected sex. More importantly, this is the one song that shows how ingenious the rave-rock hybrid is. The vibrant and uplifting beat, the marriage of keyboards and guitars. Euphoric is how I'd describe it. And the singalong at the end = superb stuff. If you took away the synths and dance, Enter Shikari would be just your average overnight band, but with them, they are something else.
Pictures of Take To The Skies (+DVD) - Enter Shikari
Album sleeve
My track of the album. ''And she's all I need to feel alive''.
Adieu The best song on the album that hasn't been released before on EPs, or as B-sides on Singles. It's the longest track of the album at 5 minutes 40, but it's a great 5 minutes. The panpipe-like backing is relaxing, and the vocalists are on top form., and the acoustic guitar is gorgeous. The lyrics are the best on the album. If Mothership is Enter Shikari's anthem, then this is their ballad. The volume is turned up a few notches at 3 minutes 30, but it's a vibrant explosion of sound and euphoria. This is a very, very pleasant surprise, and a highlight of the album.
OK Time For Plan B The chugging guitars, the synths in the background, the sing/shout-along-a-bility, this is Enter Shikari doing what they do best (Adieu being the exception). After a brief quieter bit halfway through, get ready to shout and get jumping. Much Like 'Enter Shikari' earlier in the album, there's a great singalong section at the end -''Let's make the earth move, let's make the crowd shake''. A suberb ending.
Closing Another callback to Enter Shikari (track 2), with the same line repeated over and over again on top of a beat, with added guitars. Slowly fades into silence, and raps the album up very nicely indeed.
So the album is absolutely amazing. Enter Shikari really have created something awesome here. You'd never think it were possible to blend two totally different genres, and come out with something half decent. Granted, artists like The Prodigy have done something similar before, but this is just out of this world. This is awesome stuff.
As for the DVD, like I've said before, it has live footage of only 3 songs from their London Astoria gig (which is a shame, because this band's live performances are amazing), and the backstage footage. This isn't essential (it is possible to buy the CD without the DVD) but as an avid fan of the band, I just had to get this version. Another disapointment is the length of the DVD, at 20 minutes, it's no epic, that's for sure. However, the fact it's limited edition is pretty cool. You'll never know, I might make a few bob on this in the future haha (not likely!).
To see this band live is something else. Part rave, part gig, to a newcomer to the band, you wouldn't know whether to jump around like a madman or do the big fish-small fish-cardbox box routine. Put simply the jumping around option would gain you more street cred. A lot more. I've seen this band live (Cardiff, March 1st, Best St. Davids Day ever!), and they were absolutely superb. Quite possibly the best gig I've ever been to. The energy, well, you had to be there to experience it. Actually, scratch that, you get a pretty good experience just listening to this record. The energy in each and every song, you just want to get up and sway, rave-style. Only to be jumping around like a madman 20 seconds later. Superb stuff, but nothing quite like seeing them live.
So do I recomend Take to the Skies to potential buyers? Well, if you're interested in today's alternative scene, then yes most definitely! What am I saying... you should already have it! Of course, like most alternative bands, they aren't very accessible to your average music fan, so you might not like them outright. But, if you're tastes lie in the alternative section, then get this in, now! I do advise you purchase this version, if only to see footage of the band live on the DVD. The lighting and laser-esque effects, it's like something out of The Matrix!
As for bad points, there are only three I can think of. Firstly, the album feels a little unfinished, a little bit rough inplaces. But it's still amazingly good. I cannot imagine how good it would be if they manage to iron out every crease... Secondly, there is one song and a couple of the interludes that could be improved, which is quite dissapointing, but the better songs more than make up for it. Thirdly , the footage on the DVD is quite short (20 minutes max), which is dissapointing. Surely more time and effort could have been put into this.
So, the bottom line, Enter Shikari are superb, as is 'Take to the Skies'. Do yourself a favour and listen to their music, if only out of curiousity. That's how I first found out about them. Be sure to check out their MySpace and/or official site for more info, and the chance to hear some of their music. You never know, you might find your new favourite band...
The album is available from all good CD stockists, and numerous internet shopping sites. The limited edition CD + DVD version however, is, well, limited edition, so it won't be available forever.
For more info, here's some links: www.entershikari.com - Official Site www.myspace.com/entershikari - Band's MySpace, some tracks to listen to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enter_Shikari - Wikipedia Page, loads of info on the band
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
the only excuse i can offer for not having this album already is lack of funds, but will now order immediately! great review, would love to see them live xx
Xlixen 16.04.2007 19:19
I love Enter Shikari...But dont have the DVD. Great Review :-)
NIRVANA7XXXSTACY 03.04.2007 00:53
great review. you're obviously a fan. acknowledge the time and effort you put ito this detailed and fun to read review. excellent work. saw them on Rockworld tv. am a metal head also. But more into 80's metal (Whitesnake, Ynwwie Malsmsteen,etc (must be my age (34) )....but I too am interested in fusions of different styles (when it's done properly), and original sounds. not into the trance aspect of the band, but the atmospheric synths are cool. Peace and Respect.
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