Enter Shikari - Common Dreads (2009)

I have been asked by Ben to post his recommendation for The Chief this week as his not-so-lovable landlord has sold his house and therefore he has no internet.

Ben is recommending Enter Shikari's second album 'Common Dreads' for The Chief. The reason that he chose this album is that The Chief enjoyed their debut album 'Take to the Skies' and will be going to see them live in December. His personal highlights are Step Up, Solidarity and Step Up. I, too, will vouch that these are all good songs.

Enjoy, sorry for the delay.

Dan/Ben

Funeral For a Friend - Hours (2005)

Funeral For a Friend are a band who I feel were definitely at their best in their early days. Recently they've toned down their sound and seem to be writing more media-friendly songs but the raw, heavier sound present on 'Hours' is definitely where their talents lie. This album has some outstanding riffs and some altogether hard-hitting songs with some decent vocals from Matt Davies.

Like Dan, this is by no means my favourite album ever but one which I think people may enjoy hence its inclusion on AlbumSwap this week.

1. All the Rage

2. Streetcar

3. Roses for the Dead

4. Hospitality

5. Drive

6. Monsters

7. History

8. Recovery

9. The End of Nothing

10. Alvarez

11. Sonny

Personal Highlights:

Streetcar

Roses for the Dead

Monsters

Sonny

Fightstar - One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours (2007)

One Day Son This Will All Be Yours is the second full length album from Fightstar.
I have posted this to coincide with the release of the new album Be Human which will be available from next Monday.

I also want to try and eliminate the problem that Fightstar have, which is that many people do not listen to them because it's "Charlie from Busted's new band".
First off, it's not. Fightstar were around at the same time as Busted, he left Busted to persue his career in Fightstar. And second of all, they are in no way similar and I think that Fightstar are a group of very talented people who have to put up with a lot of negative comments and don't have the fanbase that they certainly deserve.

This album is one of my all time favourites. It was an impulse purchase on Alex Platt's 17th birthday and since that day has remained one of my best albums.

Track Listing:
[1]99
[2]We Apologize for Nothing
[3]Floods
[4]One Day Son
[5]Deathcar
[6]I Am The Message
[7]You & I
[8]Amaze Us
[9]H.I.P (Enough)
[10]Tannhauser Gate
[11]Our Last Common Ancestor
[12]Unfamiliar Ceilings

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)