In 2007, Enter Shikari melted my face with Take To The Skies (“Anything Can Happen…” especially impressed me then). After buying a new face and rejoining society I patiently awaited their next album, which they put out in 2008 with We Can Breathe In Space, They Just Don’t Want Us To Escape, and even though it didn’t do much more than warm my cheeks, it was a fun EP. In 2009, they came roaring back with Common Dreads which I liked and enjoyed, but didn’t love, thus it never ended up making it into my rotating list of “currently obsessed with” albums. I was worried they had peaked with their first album. I was wrong.
In 2012 Enter Shikari returned to rock this reviewer’s world with A Flash Of Color, which I loved from start to finish. It didn’t have the face melting power of Take To The Skies, but instead, a more soulful power all it’s own that I can still get lost in 2 years later. It’s joined Take To The Skies as an album with staying power and that brings us up-to-date with their 2015 release The Mindsweep. So how does it stack up?
I’ll start by simply saying that I like most of it. The first two songs of the album, “The Appeal & The Mindsweep I” and “The One True Colour” (they’re British), are fantastic. They’re full of the grit, power, verve, and the lyrical imagery I’ve come to expect from the band. I love jamming out to them with my headphones on at work or in my car on the way home. These songs are why I like the band so much. Then we hit “Anaesthetist”, “The Last Garrison” and the first 1/2 of “Never Let Go Of The Microscope”. These 2.5 songs are terrible. I absolutely can’t stand them, but then we hit the last 1/2 of “Never Let Go Of The Microscope” and bam we’re back on track!
“Myopia” is great, but then we hit another speed bump with “Torn Apart”, which isn’t terrible per-say but despite having great lyrics I just can’t get into it and more often then not I end up hitting skip. Then I hit skip again on “Interlude” (why is that there?), “The Bank of England”, and “There’s A Piece On Your Head” which sounds like a System Of A Down B-side. But then we hit the soulful “Dear Future Historians” which is fantastic. The way Enter Shikari build it up to the ending crescendo gives it an epic ballad type feel and I’m a sucker for that.
The Mindsweep finishes with “The Appeal & Mindsweep II” which is the complete opposite of the previous song and leaves the album feeling like it’s ended in a giant jumbled mess. Seriously guys, why the hell did you do that? It’s awful and now looking back at the full review, I guess I have to take back what I said about liking most of it. There are 12 songs on this album and I only like 4 1/2 of them so mathematically I only like 37.5% of the album.
On The Mindsweep, Enter Shikari tackles a lot of complex social issues in the album like race, class, income inequality, war, religion and hyper consumerism. They jump all over these issues and more with a keen eye and poetic flurry. I love what they’re saying, it’s the delivery I have a problem with which is exactly how I felt about Common Dreads too. These guys write a lot of clever, meaningful and culturally insightful lyrics; it’s a shame I can’t enjoy them.
Rating: 1.875 / 5
Enter Shikari’s Website