‘The Mindsweep’ is Enter Shikari’s third top 10 record in the UK. It’s also a fire-in-its-belly response to the idea that popularity equals an empty vessel making a shedload of noise. Their list of enemies is a mile long, their targets thoroughly deserving of their genre-mangling ire.
The dismantling of the NHS is front and centre on Anaesthetist, the butting heads of science and religious dogma on Never Let Go Of The Microscope. Their sights are trained on big business for The Bank of England, while the ice caps slowly melt on Myopia. The Last Garrison is a paean to staying alive through it all.
But, nothing reduces political lyrics to empty rhetoric faster than a lack of tunes. Fortunately, ‘The Mindsweep’ is brimming with the things. It retains Enter Shikari’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-them shifts in tone but channels that restless energy into a focused, hook-filled whole.
Where Torn Apart is wrapped in an almost ethereal synth chorus, The Appeal & The Mindsweep 1 shifts from spoken-word declaration into a break that reminds you Enter Shikari came up at a time when Capdown ruled the roost in the UK’s punk scene.
The Last Garrison’s leap from feral verse to strutting refrain is intoxicating, while Anaesthetist’s Prodigy thud is set upon by yet another squall of melodies, from Rou Reynolds’ throat-stripping bark to some soaring falsetto backing.
This is the sound of a band firing on all cylinders. Enter Shikari, love them or loathe them, are saying the things that so many bands with similar platforms choose to ignore.
Enter Shikari Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Mon February 16 2015 - PORTSMOUTH Portsmouth Pyramids
Tue February 17 2015 - CARDIFF Cardiff University Students Union
Wed February 18 2015 - WOLVERHAMPTON Wolverhampton Civic Hall
Fri February 20 2015 - MANCHESTER Academy
Sat February 21 2015 - GLASGOW Barrowland
Sun February 22 2015 - MIDDLESBROUGH Town Hall
Tue February 24 2015 - CAMBRIDGE Corn Exchange, Cambridge
Wed February 25 2015 - NORWICH Norwich Nick Rayns LCR UEA
Thu February 26 2015 - LONDON Roundhouse
Fri February 27 2015 - LONDON Roundhouse
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