Enter Shikari - The Spark (2017) - Less Nitendocore more Post-hardcore

One of the greatest exponents of the exotic nintendocore genre has been proving in each album that the style has really died. Saying goodbye to the burlesque 8-bit sounds Enter Shikari evolves the formula started in "The Mindsweep" and does an alternative post-hardcore album. The great trump however is to get away from the corny post-hardcore melody and carry sounds full of the industrial spirit.

The band lifeboat in the sea of ​​mediocrity (now that it has abandoned nitendocore) is creativity, it is the ability to create melodies full of nuances. Do not expect to hear riff over riff, thrilling drum turns or the double bass ride. The vibe now is danceable atmosphere with pop melody driven by rhythmic vocals, strong choruses and fluent synthesizers. Listen for example The Sights with its  simple and efficient enough melody to excite that it unrolls in hardcore pulse although somewhat euthymic. Live Outside on the contrary, uses the sonority that recovers the 8 bits sound, but only to be disfigured by an electronic propulsion loaded by rapped vocal. The most atypical track of the already exotic album is the Shinrin-Yoku. This song invests in a solemn sound under an initial base of horn, it gets close to what we can call ballad (in Enter Shikari sense). The more "conventional" track An Ode to Lost Jigsaw Pieces is also one of the most beautiful with its exciting orchestrated melody.

"The Spark" does not go down well in the first five auditions (can be more or less depending on yours tolerance). Insisting and letting be carry by the paths chosen by the band is the way to get the edges rounded and the journey smoothed. With creativity Enter Shikari survives, but a latent nostalgia of the cycle that ended in The Flash Flood of Color still persists.

TrackList
1.The Spark 0:50
2.The Sights 3:20
3.Live Outside 3:40
4.Take My Country Back 3:43
5.Airfield 4:52
6.Rabble Rouser 4:25
7.Shinrin-Yoku 4:15
8.Undercover Agents 4:29
9.The Revolt of the Atoms 4:44
10.An Ode to Lost Jigsaw Pieces 5:58
11.The Embers 0:50

Last conclusion:

Marcelo Hissa