Common Dreads - Enter Shikari

After taking a short break to finish working on their second album, Common Dreads', Enter Shikari are back!

The band, formed in 2003, the band have a lot to live up to after their huge success with their debut album, 'Take To The Skies', which was released in March 2007. The seventeen track album shot to #4 in the Official UK Album Chart and sold 28,000 copies within it's first week of being released. Enter Shikari have performed over 500 gigs to date including Download, Glastonbury and their biggest ever headline gig at the Carling Academy Brixton, all in 2007.

Enter Shikari began recording their second album, 'Common Dreads', in September 2009 and finished in late February 2009. They built up hype for their upcoming album by releasing videos on YouTube showing their progress, posting a live version of the track 'Antwerpen', and releasing a video for the single 'Juggernauts'.

'Common Dreads' was released on June 15th 2009 on the bands own label, Ambush Reality, but despite having already gained a very positive reception the album only debuted at #16 on the UK top 40 album chart. The fifteen track album sold 15,000 copies in its first week.

The album has several references to 'Take To The Skies'. The recurring lyric in the bands first album, "And still we will be here, standing like statues", can be heard in 'Solidarity'. Also, "Just another day in the Acid Nation" from the song 'Havoc A' relates to the track 'Acid Nation'.

Track #4, 'Juggernauts', has singer Rou Reynolds speaking in the middle of the song, and has been compared to Mike Skinner (a.k.a The Streets). According to Wikipedia, dailymusicguide wrote "you wouldn't be mistaken in thinking the song sounds like Mike Skinner from The Streets gone psychotic". but Radio 1's Fraser McAlpine says "[Juggernauts] is full of sudden surges, short explosive passages and long, meandering lulls.." but also compares the spoken parts to Mike Skinner.

Track #6, 'Zzonked', sounds a lot more like the old Enter Shikari than the rest of the album, with a hint of Hadouken! About halfway through the song Rou shouts: "Mate, what the fuck are you on about!?”, which Metal Hammer describes as so relevant to a band who have confused and confounded so many people.

Despite being under an hour long, 'Common Dreads' shows how Enter Shikari have developed their unique sound and matured since we last heard them. If you haven't already heard it, I suggest going and buying it.