- Label
- Ambush Reality
- Release date
- 15th June 2009
- Genre
- Rock
- Buy this album
- Order CD
It may not Smash The System, but it’s good fun
St Albans tyros Enter Shikari saw their 2007 debut Take To The Skies rocket into the Top 5 of the album chart despite having no record deal and are defiantly ploughing an independent furrow once more with this follow-up, which they promise will be the soundtrack to recession Britain.
It falls well short of this target but there is much to admire about Common Dreads, which is certainly a more original slab of politicised rock than recent offerings from Gallows and The Enemy. Their musical recipe of thrash guitar and frantically bleeping synths can get samey but when it works, as on Hectic and Solidarity, it is undeniably thrilling.
Rou Reynolds’ Estuary English vocals can suggest a hectoring, indignant Mike Skinner attempting social commentary but this apparent weakness lends tracks like Juggernauts a rudimentary charm. Overall, it’s a flawed yet engaging second album from a pleasingly original band.
More to try:
Atari Teenage Riot: The Future of War
The Deftones: Around The Fur
The Streets: A Grand Don’t Come For Free
