Enter Shikari - Take to the Skies (2007) (Special Review: MattJ)

Well well well, Enter Shikari, we meet at last. I've listened to this at the request of Dan who in exchange has listened to and reviewed (very nicely I might add) cLOUDDEAD. I feel that I've gotten the easier end of this deal...

Well everyone and their grandmother seems to have listened to this album and seen the band live apart from me. I wasn't really sure what to expect, although I say that I knew exactly what they are - hardcore(ish) and electronic(ish), but what is that supposed to sound like? The first thing that surprised me was the vocals. I really wasn't expecting what I got from the vocalist on the opening song - he reminded me strangely of the singer from post-punk band Wire and that can only be a good thing.*

'Anything can happen in the next half hour indeed' I thought. I very much liked the little interludes throughout the album and found myself thinking I wouldn't mind listening to an entire album like this, especially the last one before the end. Another part of the album I liked was the energy I heard from the band, especially on the annoyingly named 'No Sssweat'. I very much would like to see this song, Mothership and Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour live. Furthermore, I suppose you could call this a good thing, the backing vocals of 'Return to Energizer' sounds like they are shouted in to a cushion and really made me laugh. Yeah, that is definitely a positive.

Although I did find many aspects of the album to be good it was not without its negatives. 'Sorry, You're Not a Winner' was the only ES song I had heard before this and I have never been a fan of it. From the vocals, which otherwise on the album I have enjoyed but sadly not on this track, to the eternally horrible clapping. I just don't find this song very enjoyable; the same is true of Labyrinth and Johnny Sniper where I really hated the riff of both songs. In fact I found Johnny Sniper down right cringey - it sounds like I stepped out of my bedroom and into a fairground. I'm finding that the aspects of the album I did not like were all things that are down to perspective and so are not things that are bad because Enter Shikari are bad - more because I don't really like some aspects of the album.

This is a fairly solid album from a band who feel like they have been around forever, but listening to this album I hear a young group with a hell of a lot of potential. I much preferred their fast paced songs and shouting as apposed to slower songs like 'Today Won't Go Down in History' but I found 'Adieu' to be a very nice song indeed. I was pleasantly surprised with this album, which is by no means a masterpiece but still a good album, and I am actually looking forward to hear how they've grown with their next album. 3/5

Highlights:
Enter Shikari
Mothership
All of the interludes

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqP-Ezl-4AM (I feel the need to explain myself as I can't just name drop any old band in a review and expect people to know them, I'm not a reviewer from Pitchfork)