Common Dreads
Common Dreads | ||||
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Studio album by Enter Shikari | ||||
Released | 15 June 2009 | |||
Recorded | September 2008–February 2009 at Arreton Manor, UK | |||
Genre | Post-hardcore,[1][2][3] electronicore[4][5] | |||
Length | 50:27 | |||
Label |
Ambush Reality (UK) PIAS Recordings (Europe) Tiny Evil (United States) Hostess Entertainment (Japan) | |||
Producer | Enter Shikari, Andy Gray | |||
Enter Shikari chronology | ||||
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Singles from Common Dreads | ||||
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Common Dreads is the second studio album by Enter Shikari released on June 15, 2009 and June 16 in the US.[6] Recording of the album began in September 2008 and ended in late February 2009. The album was produced and mixed by Andy Gray at Arreton Manor. Guitar production was carried out by Dan Weller of WellerHill and the band SikTh.
History
Enter Shikari began work on their second album towards the end of 2008 and started demoing songs in "The 'Low" (episodes released on YouTube by Enter Shikari showing their progress.)[7]
In late September, the band posted a video on their YouTube channel of "Antwerpen" filmed live in "The 'Low".[8] This track was to become the first track released, made available as a free download, linked from the band's MySpace page.[9] A video has now been released for the single "Juggernauts".
The new album was recorded in Arreton Manor situated on the Isle of Wight. Several new songs were played live in the tours and festivals leading up to the new album. The album has a political motive behind it and references to the current economic climate is a topic that is covered.
The new single, Juggernauts, was premièred on Thursday the 15th of April on Radio 1's Zane Lowe show, and a video was released viewable on their website.[10] "Rou" Reynolds told Kerrang! that the song was inspired by the book Tescopoly by Andrew Simms.[11]
On Monday 8 June 2009, the album was made available to stream to the public from the NME website for free. It released officially on the 15th of June 2009 through Ambush Reality.
It entered the album charts at number 16 selling 15,000 copies in its first week.
It was announced via the Enter Shikari website that the second single from the album would be "No Sleep Tonight", to be released on the 17th of August 2009.
Enter Shikari's song Wall premièred on Zane Lowe's show on 29 September 2009, but is not scheduled for release as an official single. The next official single was Zzzonked, with the official video being released on Ambush Reality/Enter Shikari's official YouTube Channel on the 7th Oct 2009. This was recorded at Norwich on the first leg of their European tour in 2009, The video can be seen here.[12]
The album has a distinct stylistic change to Take to the Skies, most notably, more use of clean vocals and a mixture of more electronic music genres, including drum and bass, electro house and dubstep, as well as the trance and electronic hardcore which was explored on their debut album.
Lyrics
There is a drastic lyrical change in the new album. The band formerly wrote lyrics concerning various different subjects and made frequent use of metaphors. In Common Dreads, the band's lyrical subjects concern socio-political topics, like in "Step Up", a song that critiques free world trade. The song "No Sleep Tonight" speaks about the ecological situation of today. The song "Fanfare for the Conscious Man" contains lyrical connotations to the injustice of the various wars the government were engaging in whilst Enter Shikari were writing the album, the line, "Our gracious queen should grasp her crown, and take a good fucking swing at Blair and Brown" confirms the anti-war views of this song. The band expresses further political ideas in the song "Juggernauts" where the closing line is; "The idea of community will be something displayed in a museum", when coupled with the anti-capitalist and hopeless tone of previous lyrics, can be interpreted as a Pro-Collectivist stance.
Reception
Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AbsolutePunk | (78%) link |
Allmusic | link |
Digital Spy | link |
Entertainment.ie | link |
Kerrang! | |
Metal Hammer | |
NME | link |
The Observer | link |
Planet Sound | link |
Rock Sound | link |
The Times | link |
Common Dreads has polarised critics. Ultimate-Guitar rated the album with an overall rating of 9.3/10.[13] Similarly, music magazines Kerrang! and Metal Hammer gave very positive reviews, Kerrang! rating the album 5/5. The album also has its critics. Digital Spy gave the album 3/5 calling it 'hit and miss'. Pete Paphides of The Times gave the album 2 stars out of 5, describing it as "a titanically inadvisable mash-up between Gallows and John Craven's Newsround."[14] Similarly, Lauren Murphy of entertainment.ie described it as "an overkill of brawn, insufficient brain."[15]
Track listing
All lyrics written by Roughton "Rou" Reynolds, all music composed by Enter Shikari.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Common Dreads" | 2:08 |
2. | "Solidarity" | 3:16 |
3. | "Step Up" | 4:40 |
4. | "Juggernauts" | 4:44 |
5. | "Wall" | 4:29 |
6. | "Zzzonked" | 3:27 |
7. | "Havoc A" | 1:40 |
8. | "No Sleep Tonight" | 4:16 |
9. | "Gap in the Fence" | 4:07 |
10. | "Havoc B" | 2:52 |
11. | "Antwerpen" | 3:15 |
12. | "The Jester" | 3:55 |
13. | "Halcyon" | 0:42 |
14. | "Hectic" | 3:17 |
15. | "Fanfare for the Conscious Man" | 3:45 |
Total length: |
50:27 |
iTunes Bonus Tracks | ||
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No. | Title | Length |
16. | "Enter Shikari" (Live Track) | 4:00 |
17. | "Labyrinth" (Live Track) | 3:29 |
18. | "Return to Energiser" (Live Track) | 5:46 |
Total length: |
1:03:02 |
Japanese bonus tracks[16] | ||
---|---|---|
No. | Title | Length |
16. | "We Can Breathe in Space, They Just Don't Want Us to Escape" | 5:54 |
17. | "All Eyes on the Saint" | 5:53 |
Total length: |
1:01:34 |
Personnel
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Chart performance
Chart (2009) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums Chart[17] | 55 |
Belgian Albums Chart[18] | 94 |
German Albums Chart[18] | 96 |
Japan Albums Chart[19] | 77 |
UK Albums Chart[20] | 16 |
References
- ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000822269
- ↑ http://www.nme.com/reviews/enter-shikari/10554
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/bqmq
- ↑ http://metalitalia.com/album/enter-shikari-common-dreads/
- ↑ http://www.musikreviews.de/reviews/2009/ENTER-SHIKARI/Common-Dreads/
- ↑ Play.com - Common Dreads
- ↑ Video Diaries
- ↑ Antwerpen Live From The Low on YouTube
- ↑ Antwerpen
- ↑ Juggernauts video on YouTube
- ↑ Juggernauts Songfacts
- ↑ "ENTER SHIKARI - ZZZONKED - official promo video". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
- ↑ comments policy 44 comments posted. "Common Dreads Review | Enter Shikari | Compact Discs | Reviews @". Ultimate-guitar.com. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
- ↑ Jenny Booth Last updated February 10, 2012 2:15PM (2012-01-25). "The Times | UK News, World News and Opinion". Entertainment.timesonline.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
- ↑ "Enter Shikari - Common Dreads. Review by Lauren Murphy | Entertainment.ie - Ireland | Music, CD Reviews". Entertainment.ie. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
- ↑ Japanese Bonus Tracks
- ↑ http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/23790/20090805-0000/issue1009.pdf
- 1 2 http://www.ultratop.be/nl/album/1b3d6/Enter-Shikari-Common-Dreads
- ↑ http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/418169/products/
- ↑ http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/albums-chart/20090621/7502/
External links
- Common Dreads at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)
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