Review: Enter Shikari – Tribalism

March 11th, 2010

Grant Trimboli

Artist: Enter Shikari
Album: Tribalism
Genre: Synth-Hardcore fusion
Label: Ambush Reality / Interscope / Warner

Enter Shikari, a synth-hardcore fusion band from the UK, have put out another album? Well, no. Tribalism shows again that they are going another way by trying to keep their fans hooked with a b-sides and remix record. However the album does feature two new tracks and three live tracks just to add to the excitement.

Tribalism starts off with the new track titled, well, “Tribalism.” The song starts with some creepy synth beats and immediately leads into Roughton “Rou” Reynolds half rapping / talking to you about Aztecs, Newton, and sitting on a throne with a trident. This being said, the song has a strong political vibe to it with the only thing reminding you this is Enter Shikari being the chorus where they pick up the tempo and start the screaming with the repeating line “We won’t stay silent, we’ll make as much noise as we can.” Thumper comes back to a more familiar Shikari sound from their previous releases picking the tempo up with the familiar song progression with the fast and slow breakdowns. The lyrics, however, are boasting that they have “lost it” and were too concerned with making money so they lost track of what they used to be.

Now on to the B-sides. “All Eyes On The Saint” is a song based around their home town of St. Albans, Hertfordshire and how it came to be with the beheading of St. Albans. The song shows a different side of Shikari that we haven’t heard before with the technical guitar riffs and moments of chugs that can’t be denied. “We Can Breathe In Space,” one of the few tracks to stand out, was actually released on their myspace before the their previous album Common Dreads was released and was one of the tracks that didn’t happen to make it on the final release of the album.

The remixes off us a little something different. “Juggernauts – Nero Remix” is a more upbeat club mix, “No Sleep Tonight – The Qemists Remix” is a more heavier industrial mix, and then…well, at this point it all simply begins t blend together.

Luckily the band pulls it together with a few live cuts at the very end, but quality on these cuts is a bit too weak for repetitive listening.

Overall Tribalism doesn’t quite hit home the way Enter Shikari normally does. Showing either a turn in direction [yet again] or throwing us a lot off oddball loose tracks with no purpose, its unclear why this release was necessary. You’re only two albums and a few EPs in, calm down, build your career more, then hit us with b-sides because right now, these seem more like cutting room floor scraps than previously unheard moments of brilliance and we all know Enter Shikari is better than that.

Score: 4.5/10
Review written by: Jacob Bottomley