Without a shadow of a doubt this is going to be one of the
year’s biggest rock releases; Enter
Shikari being a band that have achieved major crossover success and will be
embraced as much by rockers as they will be by trendy types and chart lovers.
Combining UK style hardcore and some metal elements with Dance rhythms and Drum
And Bass crunch, becoming one of the Countries most popular bands, and all the
best to them for it. I myself had never checked the band out before, but as I
have gradually got in to Dubstep and to an extent Drum And Bass, a band that
mixes it together with Hardcore and Metal should be right up my street right?
Sadly it seems
that A Flash Flood Of Colour is not
the best place to start, or their best effort or...actually simply this is not
a great album whatsoever. Too many things crop on occasion here that simply
irritate me and do not feel necessary, or feel misleading. A brief listen to some
earlier music from the band (especially from the debut) suggests that the band
do genuinely mix hardcore and electronica to decent effect; here on the other
hand they have not implemented them at all, instead it will be dance style
beat, followed by slightly metal riff, hardcore breakdown, back to a dance like
element. This is not implementing both styles together, this is merely playing
both in the same song; it would be like a smoothie company saying that their
product contains both strawberries and bananas, only to get it and find they
aren’t blended together but separate in a bag. The song ‘Arguing With
Thermometers’ is a good example of this and how disjointed and confused it
sounds rather than truly bringing the different styles together to full effect.
Despite this there
are parts of songs that sound really good at times, some of the dance and drum
and base parts are pretty catchy and work really well when they are not
interrupted by a ill placed breakdown; for example ‘Stalemate’ has no real hint
of hardcore whatsoever and is a considerably stronger song as a result. For me a
bigger problem however is the vocals. Rou
Reynolds is not the strongest clean singer by any stretch of the
imagination and never seems to have been, but definitely fits in with the UK
hardcore style, what is striking however is how weak his harsh vocals have become,
sounding mostly very strained and at times even unintentionally comedic; they
genuinely sound damaged rather than ferocious as perhaps expected. On the final
track ‘Constellations’ he even sounds like Mike
Skinner, if Skinner was
struggling with his ‘vocals’ as well that is.
Speaking of
comedic, for me the biggest downer of the album and a genuine irritation is the
frequent inclusion of what must be ‘in-jokes’ to the band. During ‘Sssnakepit’
for example they are heard talking about Louis Armstrong, before finishing the
song with what is simply a stupid finish of silly voices followed by
laughing...you can have fun in the studio by any means I’m not that tight, but
the inclusion of this is simply pointless and not inclusive. Similarly during ‘Gandhi
Mate, Gandhi’ the song is interrupted by them telling each other to calm down
and remember Gandhi...Why? Completely unnecessary.
It isn’t entirely
bad however, there are some pretty decent moments here and there; ‘Search Party’
for example could be a great club floor-filler, and the drum and base parts in ‘Pack
Of Thieves’ are particularly strong. But it is never great for long before
something seems ill placed, needless or even just annoying. The political side
of the band as well comes across as far too preachy at times. Rise Against is a
perfect example of how a song can contain a political urgency and meaning, yet
is not overpowered by it constantly if need be; here whenever politics comes up
it is essentially shouting in your face to listen, like someone rudely yelling
at you until you listen.
Despite this fans
will undoubtedly snap this up and enjoy it, and they will become even bigger
news this year. For essentially a newbie to this band however, A Flash Flood Of Colour is too often
stumbling and for much of it simply annoying.
[4/10]
Listen To: Stalemate, Pack Of Thieves.
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