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Rating:
Ok, I admit it, adolescence is over and it has taken many things with it. One in particular: Enter Shikari.
The quartet from St. Albans has officially become a charity ONLUS in every respect. It was believed and hoped that the Zeitgeist fad was a fleeting thing and that illuminati, conspiracies, Adam Kadmon, and various New World Orders would quickly burn away in the brazier of time. This is not the case for Enter Shikari, who continue undeterred, from "Common Dreads" onwards, to rant incessantly about politics and social topics, but not in a "punk" way, rather in the most mainstream way possible, resulting in being unconvincing and monotonous. This album confirms that.
"The Mindsweep," as mentioned earlier, follows the path of the band's latest albums both thematically and sonically: tracks are much more restrained and melodic, the electronic section gains more prominence at the expense of the rhythmic section, and there's an almost complete departure from "metalcore" to favor a pseudo alternative rock with (very hinted) faux neo-psychedelic streaks that have been "cool" since the 2000s.
After all, it's well-known that Enter Shikari have always been victims of the trends and the system they so heavily criticize and want to overthrow. They've moved from the emo-post hardcore-metalcore trend to a more mature indie (but only on the surface), from Bristol-style English electronics (D&b and dubstep) to a more ambient and psychedelic one.
The album on the whole is catchy, but it's not a particularly engaged or energetic listen; there's a sense of a "terminus" for the band, which musically seems to have nothing left to say. We thus miss the early Enter Shikari, the innovative ones you listened to as a teenager, the self-made pioneers of a genre poorly copied by other bands, the enter posers, the ones who were a bit snobbish, who didn't take themselves seriously and just wanted to have fun, who excited and didn't commit. But then again, growing up means this too, and it's right, in a way, that it's no longer like that because after a certain age, you can no longer afford certain things, and you must find a way to mature as an artist.
Quoting the old Enter Shikari: "And still we will be here standing like statues" waiting for a work of substance.
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