Enter Shikari has no bad reviews

Enter Shikari brings the full menu to the stage: post hardcore, alt metal, metal core, electronica, trance, industrial, and that sound that is death to most subwoofers, dubstep. They’re from Hertfordshire, a city that is to England what Poway is to San Diego, meaning an inexplicable birthplace of great rock-and-roll bands. Consider Rod Argent, Deep Purple, the Zombies, and the Subways — all from Hertfordshire. Likewise, Blink-182, the Crocodiles, Unwritten Law, and more sprung from the bosom of the public school system in Poway.

The band released their debut in 2007 to a waiting audience; they had sold out the London Astoria, a 2000-seat venue, the year before. In subsequent interviews, the group chalked up a lot of their success to web penetration via their releasing of demos on MySpace. They come off as kind of an angry bunch, but more refined than Fred Durst and far less naive than System of a Down. “I cherish my loss,” Enter Shikari’s Roughton Reynolds sings. “A gentle reminder, that life is unkind/ at the best of times.”

There’s a large market for rock-and-roll rage. Always has been, going back to the Who, England’s first angry export. But, can you get a love song out of the guys in Enter Shikari? Kind of: “And it’s then that I admit it to myself/ that I am lost, so lost/ But you’re the constellations/ that guide me.”

Enter Shikari are Reynolds on vox and keys, with Liam Clewlow on guitar, bassist Chris Batten, and drummer Bob Rolfe. They are now touring in support of their fourth CD, The Mindsweep, released earlier this year. I could find no bad reviews. Alternative Press gave the CD a perfect five out of five. Kerrang! came with another five out of five, and Big Cheese gave it nine out of ten. Righteous indignation? It has never sounded so good.