Enter Shikari - A Kiss for the Whole World - The Singles, Reviewed

Enter Shikari - A Kiss for the Whole World - The Singles, Reviewed 

When I first discovered Enter Shikari, they seemed like a distillation of some of my favourite music. I love electronic music, I love metal music, and so a band whose sound combines the two in equal measure sounded like a great idea. Sure, other bands had a crack at this, but none quite approached the quality level of Shikari, with great albums like 2007’s ‘Take to the Skies’, or my personal favourite, 2016’s ‘The Mindsweep’, an electronicore album of truly epic proportions. Now, following 2020’s decent, if a little spotty and overindulgent ‘Nothing is True & Everything is Possible’, the band are back with their “euphoric” new album ‘A Kiss For The Whole World’, scheduled for 21st April. So, let’s take a look at the singles, to see if we can get an idea of where the band are heading this time around.

(pls) set me on fire

This is pretty much everything you want from a lead single from an Enter Shikari album. Beginning with a fantastic vocal harmony and an electronic, video game inspired intro not unlike something from an Anamanaguchi record, the band quickly compliment this spritely mix of electronics with a typically chunky, slow paced, metal groove with sledgehammer guitars, yet still with somewhat of a bright sheen. This contrasts with the verses that utilise a fast-paced, agile drum beat and funky, clean guitars. Vocals in the verse can range from the typically gruff shouted vocals, to both more projected and reserved sung vocals, the latter delivery also having an extra subtle degree of swagger. Not only are lead singer Rou Reynolds’ vocals highly versatile, but the way the rest of the band compliment him with their background vocals works very well. The chorus sounds, well, euphoric, accurately enough, with the band’s soaring vocals working perfectly with the electronic infused dramatic metalcore in the instrumental. While much of the imagery in the lyrics is compelling, and the verses convey the themes of isolation, yearning and eventual uplift fairly well, the chorus seems to come across slightly more morbid and existential than they intended, but perhaps it’s just how I’m reading them (“I wanna be ash in the atmosphere, please set me on fire”). The only other thing I would really give as a criticism is that the bridge, featuring a hushed vocal passage from Rou, and repeating lyrics from the verse, feels pretty redundant in terms of the track’s structure and flow. But for all intents and purposes, the band have returned with yet another great, classic sounding, catchy and multifaceted single that leaves me very excited.

It Hurts

This single comes pretty much from the same school of thought as the previous, and as such, goes over pretty well, maybe not to the degree of ‘(pls) set me on fire’, but is still a pretty enjoyable, dramatic, pop-tinged electronicore track. To start, this track certainly has a more accessible edge to it, not only with the catchy clean guitar going throughout, but also the combination of plinky electronics and finger snaps complimenting the chunky riffs and drums in the verses. It is really catchy, but as a minor gripe, I feel like the pop elements are maybe a little much, so that the more metallic elements don’t fit quite right, but it’s certainly a huge problem, as the crunchy, distorted bass is really cool. Although I may have a few quibbles with the verses, the chorus is great, underscored by chunky guitars and complemented by catchy synth riffs and dramatic atmospheres. Very Shikari, and very cool. As a last little complaint, I do feel like the breakdown sounds a little thin production wise, and some of the effects are a little tacky, but despite that, it’s still an enjoyable moment in the track with those classic metalcore chugs. Vocally and lyrically, this track is quite a hit in the former department, but a bit of a miss in the latter. I love Rou’s projected delivery throughout, and truly believe that, especially in recent years, he’s really used those dramatic, soaring performances to create great pop choruses, and the same goes for the verses. Furthermore, the way he slips between that and a more gruffer delivery in spots seems effortless and far from token. I also really enjoy bassist Chris Batten’s vocal contributions, with a slightly more reserved, yet slightly forlorn performance, and always thought his and Rou’s vocal interplay was great. Lyrically is where arguably my biggest problems lie, although not track-ruining by any means. As a whole the lyrics just seem to be taking a stab at the really overdone, motivational, “you get knocked down and come back stronger” idea which, in one’s humble opinion, will never not be corny, and along with the poppier elements, add to a palpable sense of cheesiness overall. Despite all my complaints though, I still think this is one of the band’s more relatively successful attempts at straddling metal, pop and electronic simultaneously, as for each minor complaint, there were at least one or two big positives.

Bloodshot

This track unfortunately is my least favourite so far. A lot of the electronic additions here, whether it’s the atmospheres, synth arpeggios or pitched up vocals, sound quite tacky, particularly when complimented by a chunky sounding drum beat, it does feel a bit like they’re piling whatever on. Admittedly, the minimal verse with the atmospheric guitar lines and subtle beats isn’t too bad, but I’m not exactly gonna be ranting and raving about it, similar could be said for the dramatic, sweeping guitars and occasional chugs on the chorus, add to this that again, the minimal final pre-chorus with the pianos, doesn’t serve much of a purpose, although the marching drums in the outro really aren’t too bad. Vocally I have similar issues. The performance on the verse isn’t too bad, and the chorus refrain is actually quite catchy, particularly Chris Batten’s vocals on the extension, but it’s not really blowing me away, and the various modulations just don’t sound very good. Lyrically as a final point, frontman Rou Reynolds said the track was about how, “Every day, I seem to be asking myself, ‘Is this article biassed?’, ‘Is this claim true?’, ‘Should I be more furious about this issue? ‘Am I being manipulated? Provoked? Radicalised by my own ‘tribe’?’ “Bloodshot is about how hard it is to find truth, and how easy it is to stop thinking for yourself and simply repeat your ‘team’s’ mantras”,“everyone’s so fucking angry with everyone else and it’s exhausting. It seems like social media’s main purpose these days is to hypnotise us to hate.” Safe to say that not only is this general topic quite an obvious one, but some of the very blunt imagery doesn’t help, and makes it feel all the more tiresome. So there’s some decent, if run-of-the-mill stuff, some tacky stuff, and some hamfisted stuff, and so it doesn’t go over too well for me.

So as far as what this means for the album as a whole, given the quality of most of these singles I’d say I have no reason not to be optimistic. The band made comments in the press about the album being “a back to basics rediscovery of what this band is […] our second act”, and I think that’s fairly accurate. So it seems we’re in for something quite exciting.