Enter Shikari
Moratorium(Broadcasts from the Interruption)

Enter Shikari has been doing some stuff at home during the time of quarantine when they haven’t been able to be out one tour and meet the fans. They have made some songs recorded at home, some acoustic and alternative editions of their songs, sixteen tracks and a whole hour of music. Everything to entertain the fans while they have been unable to play live, a way to maintain relevancy for themselves. Strange that they didn’t do some new songs and put together a new album instead, this feels much less relevant, perhaps something like a bonus or something. Still, things can be irrelevant and good, so what about this one?

Musically they sound like Enter Shikari but perhaps less produced, less structured, a bit freer and spontaneous perhaps. Decent sound, decent variation but an hour is still a bit too much, it would have been better if it had been shorter. It sounds pretty much alive and in a way it is good that they do both acoustic and other stuff, the variation makes the album last better than it would have otherwise. Still, it doesn’t feel that fresh or exciting and the previous albums by them that I have reviewed have been more interesting.

I am a little bit ambivalent towards this album, it doesn’t really strike me as that brilliant other than in some moments. I find the acoustic tracks to be mostly dull, especially the opening track that sets a sad tone. It lifts after that and tracks like Crossing the Rubicon makes the album pretty worthwhile, said track is the best one as well. Those great moments balance the drearier moments but doesn’t really lift the quality of the album over average – I don’t quite see the validity in releasing this as a new album, I would recommend streaming it but not buying it.

It is an album for the fans, I don’t see that it should have any wider appeal than that. Even as someone who enjoys the band’s music, I wouldn’t really consider buying this one, I will however keep this in my music library even though I am not certain that I will play it particularly much. In the end it comes down to the fact that this album isn’t particularly interesting or exciting, it is fun to listen to but besides some flashes of brilliance it doesn’t make much of an impression.

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