British Electro post hard-core nu-metal band Enter Shikari made their much anticipated return last week with their new album ‘A Flash Flood of Colour’.

Following 2009’s Common Dreads, Enter Shikari had a big challenge, they had to not only beat it but also make a statement which would appeal to their dedicated fan base. For many bands this would mean playing it safe and sticking to what you know. For Enter Shikari this meant packing up all you have and moving to Thailand to begin recording where they experimented with their sound and were free to say whatever they wanted.

From the opening song of ‘A Flash Flood of Colour’ cleverly entitled ‘System…’ the political element of the band are evident. The lyrics being a criticism of governments and countries, with a backing of strings and screaming vocals is followed immediately without break by ‘…meltdown’ where your ears are bombarded by a scream of “This is gonna change everything”. The heaviness of this track, mixed beautifully with Electro and the political shouts are everything Enter Shikari have become known for and for the most part of the album this simple arrangement is followed.

However on the sixth track ‘Stalemate’ and the albums closer ‘Constellations’ a softer side to Enter Shikari, unseen before is shown, while the twinge of dissatisfaction at the world today is kept, the heavy guitar and electro beats are replaced with Rou Reynolds singing softly with his acoustic guitar. A contrast to all other Shikari tracks, a welcome contrast for the hearing of those listening.

‘A Flash Flood of Colour’ is a triumph from Enter Shikari, an album that is sure to take them to higher places, and maybe finally break mainstream America which just eluded them on their last offering. The album sees their hard-core-dub-rave mash-up flirt with stadium rock wonderfully and from start to end is a truly exhilarating ride for old and new fans alike. The political side of the album is worded perfectly on a call to bankers in ‘Arguing with Thermometers’ with the line “Back to the drawing-board boys/Accept nothing more than complete reversal!” The closer of the Album, which describes a pretty bleak world, shows us that despite how bad things are there is Hope. Hope is something which Enter Shikari have tried to create more than anything with the lines “if we stand for nothing we will fall for anything” and “don’t tell us a small group of friends can’t change the world,” resonating in two songs respectively. Basically ya things are bad, but stick with what you believe and all will be okay. With Enter Shikari poised to lead our generation musically, yes we’ll be slightly deafened, but if ‘A Flash Flood’ is anything to go by, all shall work out alright

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Guys, this was a review I had to do for college, but i also wanted to share it here and get opinions 🙂 hope ye enjoyed it. Comments please..

Ben 🙂

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