Common Dreads
Studio album by
Enter Shikari
Released15 June 2009
RecordedLate 2008–February 2009
StudioArreton Manor, UK
Genre
Length50:27
LabelAmbush Reality
Producer
Enter Shikari chronology
The Zone
(2007)		 Common Dreads
(2009)		 Tribalism
(2010)
Singles from Common Dreads
  1. "Juggernauts"
    Released: 1 June 2009
  2. "No Sleep Tonight"
    Released: 17 August 2009

Common Dreads is the second studio album by English rock band Enter Shikari, released on 15 June 2009 and 16 June in the US.[5] 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.[6] Between late September and early November, the group went a club tour in the UK.[7] 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", which had been produced by Andy Gray.[8]

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.)[9] The new album was recorded in Arreton Manor situated on the Isle of Wight. Recording finished in late February 2009.[10]

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, 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.

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. Rou Reynolds told Kerrang! that the song was inspired by the book Tescopoly by Andrew Simms.[11]

Release

On 25 February 2009, "Antwerpen" was released as a free download.[12] In late March, the group performed at a Kerrang!-hosted event at South by Southwest in the US.[13] In late April, the group performed at Give it a Name festival,[14] followed by an appearance at The Bamboozle festival in the US in early May.[15] On 29 April, a music video was released for "Juggernauts". The track was released as a single on 1 June.[16] On 8 June, the album was made available to stream to the public from the NME website for free. On 12 June, the group performed a secret set at Download Festival.[17] Common Dreads was released on 15 June through Ambush Reality. Shortly after this, the band performed at Glastonbury Festival.[18] In July, the band went on a tour of the US with August Burns Red and Blessthefall.[19] In August 2009, the band performed at Summer Sonic Festival in Japan, FM4 Frequency Festival in Austria and the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK.[20][21][22] 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, Asking Alexandria, Broadway.[23] 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".[24] This track was to become the first track released, made available as a free download, linked from the band's MySpace page.[25] 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.[26] In October, the group went on a UK tour.[27] In February 2010, went on a brief UK tour,[28] before performing at Soundwave festival in Australia.[29] In June and July 2010, the band performed on Warped Tour, and then appeared at the Reading and Leeds Festivals.[30][31]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AbsolutePunk(78%) [32]
AllMusic [33]
Digital Spy [34]
Entertainment.ie [35]
NME [2]
The Observer [36]
Planet Sound [37]
Rock Sound [38]
The Times [39]

Common Dreads has polarised critics. Ultimate-Guitar rated the album with an overall rating of 9.3/10.[40] 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."[41] Similarly, Lauren Murphy of entertainment.ie described it as "an overkill of brawn, insufficient brain."[42]

Common Dreads entered the album charts at number 16 selling 15,000 copies in its first week.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Roughton "Rou" Reynolds; all music is composed by Enter Shikari

No.TitleLength
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
No.TitleLength
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[43]
No.TitleLength
16."We Can Breathe in Space, They Just Don't Want Us to Escape (radio edit)"4:04
17."All Eyes on the Saint"5:53
Total length:1:01:34

Personnel

Chart performance

Chart (2009) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart[44] 55
Belgian Albums Chart[45] 94
German Albums Chart[45] 96
Japan Albums Chart[46] 77
UK Albums Chart[47] 16

References

  1. ↑ Paula Carino (16 June 2009). "Common Dreads - Enter Shikari | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Happy Birthday, Common Dreads! | Sound of Pen | This is How We Feel". Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  3. ↑ "Music - Review of Enter Shikari - Common Dreads". BBC. 15 June 2009. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  4. ↑ "Play.com - Common Dreads". Archived from the original on 20 April 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  5. ↑ Katie (26 September 2008). "New Enter Shikari track!". Kerrang!. Bauer Media Group. Archived from the original on 27 February 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  6. ↑ Dan (14 May 2008). "Enter Shikari announce UK mega tour!". Kerrang!. Bauer Media Group. Archived from the original on 3 July 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  7. ↑ Dan (17 September 2008). "Enter Shikari announce UK mega tour!". Kerrang!. Bauer Media Group. Archived from the original on 14 June 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  8. ↑ Video Diaries
  9. ↑ Dan (25 February 2009). "Enter Shikari new track!". Kerrang!. Bauer Media Group. Archived from the original on 30 April 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  10. ↑ Juggernauts Songfacts
  11. ↑ "Enter Shikari premiere "Antwerpen"". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. 25 February 2009. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  12. ↑ Dan (18 March 2009). "Win Guitar Hero: Metallica as K! goes to SXSW!". Kerrang!. Bauer Media Group. Archived from the original on 27 April 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  13. ↑ Dan (5 February 2009). "Give It A Name 2009 line-up in full". Kerrang!. Bauer Media Group. Archived from the original on 12 April 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  14. ↑ "Bamboozle set single-day lineups". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. 8 February 2009. Archived from the original on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  15. ↑ Dan (29 April 2009). "Watch Enter Shikari's new video!". Kerrang!. Bauer Media Group. Archived from the original on 2 May 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  16. ↑ Dan (9 June 2009). "And the 'secret bands' are..." Kerrang!. Bauer Media Group. Archived from the original on 12 June 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  17. ↑ Paul, Aubin (27 May 2009). "Glastonbury to include F*cked Up, Brand New, Specials, Bloc Party, Bruce Springsteen, Nick Cave, Blu". Punknews.org. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  18. ↑ "August Burns Red Summer Tour". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. 14 May 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  19. ↑ Paul, Aubin (6 August 2009). "FM4 Frequency with AFI, Rise Against, Rival Schools, Thursday, Radiohead". Punknews.org. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  20. ↑ Paul, Aubin (17 June 2009). "Anti-Flag, Faith No More, Rise Against to play Reading and Leeds Festival 2009". Punknews.org. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  21. ↑ Paul, Aubin (20 April 2009). "My Chemical Romance, NIN, Paramore, Mogwai, The Enemy, Girl Talk at Summer Sonic". Punknews.org. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  22. ↑ Paul, Aubin (7 July 2009). "Alesana / The Bled / Asking Alexandria / Broadway". Punknews.org. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  23. ↑ Antwerpen Live From The Low on YouTube
  24. ↑ "Antwerpen". Retrieved 7 May 2009.
  25. ↑ "ENTER SHIKARI - ZZZONKED - official promo video". YouTube. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
  26. ↑ Dan (23 June 2009). "Enter Shikari add more dates to October tour". Kerrang!. Bauer Media Group. Archived from the original on 25 June 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  27. ↑ Dan (12 October 2009). "And the 'secret bands' are..." Kerrang!. Bauer Media Group. Archived from the original on 23 February 2010. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  28. ↑ Dan (13 October 2009). "My Chem, You Me At Six, Paramore, and Gallows for Soundwave". Kerrang!. Archived from the original on 16 October 2009. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  29. ↑ "The Dillinger Escape Plan, Every Time I Die, Suicide Silence Confirmed For Vans Warped Tour". Blabbermouth.net. 19 December 2009. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  30. ↑ Yancey, Bryne (30 March 2010). "Guns N' Roses, Blink-182, Arcade Fire to headline Reading & Leeds Festival". Punknews.org. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  31. ↑ link
  32. ↑ link
  33. ↑ link
  34. ↑ link
  35. ↑ "CD: Rock review: Enter Shikari: Common Dreads". The Guardian. 13 June 2009. Archived from the original on 26 April 2023.
  36. ↑ "link". Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 12 June 2009.
  37. ↑ link
  38. ↑ link
  39. ↑ "Common Dreads Review | Enter Shikari | Compact Discs | Reviews @". Ultimate-guitar.com. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
  40. ↑ Jenny Booth Last updated February 10, 2012 2:15PM (25 January 2012). "The Times | UK News, World News and Opinion". Entertainment.timesonline.co.uk. Retrieved 10 February 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  41. ↑ "Enter Shikari - Common Dreads. Review by Lauren Murphy | Entertainment.ie - Ireland | Music, CD Reviews". Entertainment.ie. 17 June 2009. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
  42. ↑ Japanese Bonus Tracks
  43. ↑ "The ARIA Report: Issue 1009" (PDF). webarchive.nla.gov.au. 23 August 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 August 2009. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  44. 1 2 "Enter Shikari - Common Dreads". ultratop.be. 25 June 2009. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  45. ↑ エンター・シカリえんたーしかり. "エンター・シカリの作品 | ORICON STYLE". Oricon.co.jp. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  46. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100 | Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
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