Enter Shikari - "The Spark" (September 22, 2017) Album • Page 3

Got a listen in, if you don't like the 2 singles then i'm not sure you will like this album. It's very pop oriented with very little signs of heavyness. Breakdowns aren't really there.

 

I'm actually enjoying this quite a bit. Back half of the album is very very good. Not sure I totally agree with the direction they took but I'm liking it so far.

 

I've always been a huge fan of their poppier stuff! Redshift is one of my favorite songs by them. Is it a more cohesive listen though?

 

I think it is

 

Like this alot on my first listen.

 

How David Bowie inspired Enter Shikari’s upcoming new album - Features - Alternative Press

 

Rou is one of my favorite front men. He is so pasisonate about the band's music and is an even greater human being

 

I really adore this album. Kind of a right time, right place thing for me.

 

I find this really dull. First true misstep of their career. I know Rou said he wanted to simplify the music to get his message across but this feels truly dumbed down and bland compared to previous releases.

 

Do yourself a favor: if you listened to the singles and weren't stoked on them, please give the whole album a spin. I think the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

That being said, it's definitely their poppiest record. But I wouldn't say it isn't heavy. It's a different kind of heavy - emotionally and somber, as opposed to screaming and breakdowns. Similar to how I think Keep You is PBTT's heaviest record, despite being a huge departure in their sound.

This album is going to be divisive, but frankly every Shikari album is. And then a few years later people go "Oh man, I really like it now!" After two listens, I love this. Hope people give it a chance.

 

Never been a huge fan of the more breakdown-centric heavier stuff Shikari have done in the past, so I actually quite liked this on first listen. Yeah, there are a few questionable tracks (I think Undercover Agents is pretty awful, and Live Outside a little too repetitive), but it works well as an album, and has some legit bangers on it. The Sights is about as good as this new poppy style gets, and I really enjoy Take My Country Back, and think it ends really well (I like its lyrical hook, but I'm super pro-Remain, so not surprised haha)

An Ode to Lost Jigsaw Pieces, and to an extent Airfield, really channel the Dear Future Historians vibe, and as I think that song is probably their best ever, I'm totally happy with that. Think this album isn't geared towards writing a more poppy album necessarily, or trying to become more popular or whatever (i.e. selling out BMTH style), but more the lads recognising their songwriting strengths and playing towards them. In my opinion, it works, but can totally understand people being ambivalent towards it!

 

This is getting pretty pos reviews!

 

Yeah Airfields crazy good

 

Second half of this is wild

 

This album definitely grows but I'd still say it's their weakest.

 

I fell in love with this band around 2007 (?) when their debut came out which is also the weakest for me now...everything after is just great with Rat Race EP and Common Dreads on top....Spark sounds good to me so far...but yea there is so many slower tracks for my taste haha

 

The stretch of Airfield to the Embers is their strongest, most interesting and daring sequence of songs to date. I want to write a "practice review" for this album, maybe I'll work on later

 

First listen through Atoms on the way to work today. Admittedly, it's not hitting me the way Mindsweep did on first listen, but that was to be expected. Regardless, I'm thrilled they keep pushing the boundaries and reinventing their sound. The opener, Live Outside, and a couple others are initial standouts. Other songs have pieces I've really liked so far but I can't identify em atm

 

This is exactly what I wanted to hear from this band.

That said, there's definitely an obvious "pattern" to Enter Shikari albums now, which started with Flash Flood.

 

I'm three songs in and not liking it much at all.

 

I'd say at least listen all the way through. The second half is great and contextualizes the first songs better for me

 

It's funny how when I first got introduced to the band, Take To The Skies was my favorite, and what came after seemed disappointing. Now that album is my *least* favorite, and I practically never put it on. People say music grows on you, but often I've found I'm the one that needs to do the growing to appreciate something.

 

this is the best enter shikari album i've ever heard (i hated them before this)

 

Yeah I really don't like this. "Shinrin-Yoku" was the only song I'd say I enjoyed unfortunately.

I still haven't listened to their last but this is a huge step down from what they were doing on A Flash Flood of Colour imo.

 

no worries, still