HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Common Dreads'' is the second studio album by English rock band
Enter Shikari Enter Shikari (stylised as enter: shikari and occasionally as ΣΠΤΣ℞ SΗΦΚ∆℞Φ) are a British rock band formed in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England in 1999 by bassist Chris Batten, lead vocalist and keyboardist Rou Reynolds, and dr ...
, released on 15 June 2009 and 16 June in the US. Recording of the album took place in late 2008–2009. The album was produced and mixed by Andy Gray at Arreton Manor. Guitar production was carried out by Dan Weller of SikTh.


Background and recording

In late September 2008, the group uploaded themselves performing "Antwerpen". They said the track would be recorded for the next album, which was planned for release in early 2009. Between late September and early November, the group went a club tour in the UK. Towards the end of the tour, the group released a new track, "
We Can Breathe in Space, They Just Don't Want Us to Escape "We Can Breathe in Space, They Just Don't Want Us to Escape" is a song by British rock band Enter Shikari. The release of the single is the only release of Enter Shikari in 2008. The single was not released on the band's album, '' Common Dreads'', ...
", which had been produced by Andy Gray. 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.) The new album was recorded in Arreton Manor situated on the
Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...
. Recording finished in late February 2009.


Composition

The album has a political motive behind it and references to the current economic climate is a topic that is covered. The album has a distinct stylistic change to
Take to the Skies ''Take to the Skies'' is the debut studio album by British rock band Enter Shikari. It is the first album to achieve a significant chart success for a new act operating outside the traditional label system after selling 200,000 copies worldwide. ...
, most notably, more use of clean vocals and a mixture of more electronic music genres, including drum and bass,
electro house Electro house is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by heavy bass and a tempo around 130 beats per minute. The term has been used to describe the music of many ''DJ Mag'' Top 100 DJs, including Benny Benassi, Skrillex, Steve Aok ...
and
dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...
, as well as the
trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...
and electronic hardcore which was explored on their debut album. There is a drastic lyrical change in the new album. The band formerly wrote lyrics concerning various different subjects and made frequent use of
metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...
s. 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. Rou Reynolds told
Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...
that the song was inspired by the book Tescopoly by Andrew Simms.


Release

On 25 February 2009, "Antwerpen" was released as a free download. In late March, the group performed at a ''Kerrang!''-hosted event at South by Southwest in the US. In late April, the group performed at Give it a Name festival, followed by an appearance at
The Bamboozle The Bamboozle is an annual three-day music festival which was held in New Jersey from 2003 to 2012, and is scheduled for a 2023 revival by its founder. Every year, new bands competed for spots during the two days. The event evolved out of the ...
festival in the US in early May. On 29 April, a music video was released for "Juggernauts". The track was released as a single on 1 June. On 8 June, the album was made available to stream to the public from the
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
website for free. On 12 June, the group performed a secret set at Download Festival. ''Common Dreads'' was released on 15 June through Ambush Reality. Shortly after this, the band performed at Glastonbury Festival. In July, the band went on a tour of the US with
August Burns Red August Burns Red is an American metalcore band from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, formed in 2003. The band's current lineup consists of lead guitarist John Benjamin "JB" Brubaker, rhythm guitarist Brent Rambler, drummer Matt Greiner, lead vocalist ...
and
Blessthefall Blessthefall (stylized as blessthefall or BLESSTHEFALL prior to 2013) was an American metalcore band from Phoenix, Arizona, signed to Rise Records. The band was founded in 2004 by guitarist Mike Frisby, drummer Matt Traynor, and bassist and ...
. In August 2009, the band performed at
Summer Sonic Festival The , also known as Supersonic, is an annual two- or three-day rock festival held at the same time in Osaka and Chiba, Japan. The majority of the bands playing in Osaka the first day go to Chiba the following day and vice versa. The line-up co ...
in Japan, FM4 Frequency Festival in Austria and the
Reading and Leeds Festivals The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Fe ...
in the UK. It was announced via the Enter Shikari website that the second single from the album would be "No Sleep Tonight", to be released on 17 August 2009. In September 2009, the band went on a US tour with
the Bled The Bled was an American post-hardcore band from Tucson, Arizona, formed in 2001. They released four albums ('' Pass the Flask'', '' Found in the Flood'', ''Silent Treatment'' and '' Heat Fetish'') before disbanding in 2012. History Format ...
,
Asking Alexandria Asking Alexandria are a British Rock music, rock band from York, North Yorkshire, consisting of guitarists Ben Bruce and Cameron Liddell, drummer James Cassells, lead vocalist Danny Worsnop, and bassist Sam Bettley. Initially formed in 2006 ...
,
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
. 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. In late September, the band posted a video on their YouTube channel of "Antwerpen" filmed live in "The 'Low". This track was to become the first track released, made available as a free download, linked from the band's MySpace page. The next official single was "Zzzonked", with the video being released on Ambush Reality/Enter Shikari's official YouTube Channel on 7 October 2009. This was recorded at Norwich on the first leg of their European tour in 2009, The video can be seen here. In October, the group went on a UK tour. In February 2010, went on a brief UK tour, before performing at Soundwave festival in Australia. In June and July 2010, the band performed on
Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touri ...
, and then appeared at the Reading and Leeds Festivals.


Reception

''Common Dreads'' has polarised critics. Ultimate-Guitar rated the album with an overall rating of 9.3/10. Similarly, music magazines ''
Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...
'' and ''
Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...
'' 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 ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' gave the album 2 stars out of 5, describing it as "a titanically inadvisable mash-up between
Gallows A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks ...
and '' John Craven's Newsround''." Similarly, Lauren Murphy of
entertainment.ie ''Entertainment.ie'' is an Irish web company based in Dublin. The company provides news and reviews of programs and films for TV and the cinema. It also provides information on upcoming comedies, festivals, theater shows and music in Ireland, a ...
described it as "an overkill of brawn, insufficient brain." ''Common Dreads'' entered the album charts at number 16 selling 15,000 copies in its first week.


Track listing


Personnel

; Enter Shikari * Roughton "Rou" Reynolds – lead vocals, additional guitars, lap steel guitar,
keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...
, synthesizers, programming, samples, electronics, trumpet, trombone, bongos, piano, church organ, percussion, lyrics * Chris Batten – bass, backing vocals, co-lead vocals on "Step Up", "Juggernauts", "No Sleep Tonight" and "Hectic" *
Liam "Rory" Clewlow Enter Shikari (stylised as enter: shikari and occasionally as ΣΠΤΣ℞ SΗΦΚ∆℞Φ) are a British rock band formed in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England in 1999 by bassist Chris Batten, lead vocalist and keyboardist Rou Reynolds, and dr ...
– lead guitar, rhythm guitar, backing bongos, backing vocals, co-lead vocals on "Juggernauts" and "Wall" *
Rob Rolfe Enter Shikari (stylised as enter: shikari and occasionally as ΣΠΤΣ℞ SΗΦΚ∆℞Φ) are a British rock band formed in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England in 1999 by bassist Chris Batten, lead vocalist and keyboardist Rou Reynolds, and drum ...
– drums, percussion ; Additional personnel * Andy Gray – additional vocals on "Hectic" * Dan Weller – additional guitars ; Production *
Enter Shikari Enter Shikari (stylised as enter: shikari and occasionally as ΣΠΤΣ℞ SΗΦΚ∆℞Φ) are a British rock band formed in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England in 1999 by bassist Chris Batten, lead vocalist and keyboardist Rou Reynolds, and dr ...
– production * Andy Gray – production, recording engineer, mixing engineer * Dan Weller – production * Tim Young – mastering


Chart performance


References


External links


''Common Dreads''
at
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
(streamed copy where licensed) {{Authority control 2009 albums Enter Shikari albums Ambush Reality albums Alternative metal albums by English artists Electronic albums by English artists Albums produced by Dan Weller