Review Summary: You have no idea what you’ve got yourself into.
The brain is a funny thing. It’s really just a big mess of neurons and synapses that produce everything you have ever known. It’s so complex that we, as a species are just now beginning the process of understanding it, after thousands of years of evolution. And this is precisely why the image of the brain is a brilliant visual representation of this beautiful record entitled The Mindsweep.
Now jumping back a little bit, Enter Shikari are a four-piece band from the good ‘ole UK who have, for a very long time, made it clear that they have two goals with their music. “Abusing music's worthless genre boundaries since 2003” is their motto and they’ve kept true to it with every single song they’ve ever made. The other goal is to be, not only politically and culturally conscious through their music, but progressive (not in the sense of a genre, but in commentary) and inspiring. If one were to simply measure this new release based on only those two goals, well… this is, without a doubt their best record to date.
Now back to the brain. Through the first listen, despite there being clear standout parts and a strong sense of dynamic, this album feels like a huge mess. There’s so much going on in nearly every second of this 45-minute album and even when it slows down, there’s still a ton of instrumentation and ideas to focus on. Musically, lyrically, and thematically, The Mindsweep is all over the place. But, like any other ES record, the true beauties and intricacies of their art really comes out after multiple listens. Of course the initial “Holy ***” phase was pretty great (if you didn’t at least crack a smile the first time you heard “There’s A Price On Your Head”, then I feel bad for you), it just gets better and better. The complexities of this record really take time to fully grasp and understand and with every single listen, it demands more of your attention.
There's quite a few standout tracks on this record as well. The Appeal & The Mindsweep I, while not as great an intro as System…Meltdown was, really gets you in the right mood for this album. Intense, thought-provoking, dynamic, and with a bit of silliness just for good measure. Already, it’s so obviously Enter Shikari. No other band in the world could make a track like this. The One True Colour is immediately reminiscent of the Common Dreads days but ends up in one of those rare moments in music where your attention is grasped and your hairs stand on end when you aren’t necessarily expecting it. “Oh, how rich the soil, how wondrous the upheaval” doesn’t really sound all that lyrically enticing a line, but my god they make it great.
Anaesthetist was the second single released for this album and is one of the heaviest tracks the band has released. Taking a very clear stance in regards to the current state of the U.K. healthcare system, the lads in Enter Shikari make their anger very clear through this quick, aggressive track. The Last Garrison was the first single released for this album and, at first, I was very disappointed. I mean… after nearly three years since a fresh Enter Shikari album with a brilliant Rat Race EP to hold me over, I just had higher hopes than that extremely generic chorus beat and predictable pop structure. But like the rest of the record, it’s a huge grower. Driving to this blasting out of the speakers, it’s impossible not to bang your head along. While not the most creative of tracks by them (to be fair, that’s a lot of competition), it’s definitely a solid track.
Torn Apart starts with a great riff courtesy of Rory C. and ends up with the catchiest chorus on the album. There’s A Price On Your Head is my personal favorite on the record, serving as the Zzzonked or Ghandi, Mate, Ghandi of this record, being a nice comic relief track but still in a fashion only Enter Shikari could pull off, heavy, creative, and very original with fantastic strings at the end. Dear Future Historians… is the ballad of the album but that does it no justice at all. While not as timeless or classic as Constellations was, this is a fantastic song. By far the best song I’ve ever heard that discusses dolphins. (Plus a nice little Doctor Who reference doesn’t hurt.) The Appeal & The Mindsweep II holds up the tail end of the record and makes as much of an impact as the opener did. Massive and crazy with a great riff throughout with a couple surprises towards the end.
Yeah, there's a lot to love on this albums, and it's not that the rest are bad by any means, they're just not nearly as strong as the bookends of the album. The first and last three songs on the album seem to be the biggest and best out of the bunch.
Lyrically, musically, vocally, dynamically, heck, in every sense this is the most dynamic and diverse Enter Shikari record ever. These five men (Dan Weller included as the production is brilliant and very important to the overall feel of this album) have made what I believe is their best record ever. One could only hope they make another studio documentary like they did with AFFOC. There's so many little creative things that they do in the recording stages of their records that sets them apart even more from the crowd, and I would love to see what all they came up with this time. Of course it has it’s issues (cue The Last Garrison structure, Never Let Go Of The Microscope repetition, The Bank Of England build-up) and holds on to some of the staples of the scene (Anaesthetist breakdown, The Last Garrison chorus), I think they could be excused just because of the sheer amount of quality work here. They’re really starting to understand the complexities of everything they’re trying to tackle in what has resulted in the closest they’ve come to a masterpiece.
