REVIEW: Enter Shikari - 'Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible'
Written by Andy Katz
Before I take a deep dive into the review of this record, let me just start off by saying that I listened to its entirety while walking along the Virginia Beach oceanfront. You are probably asking why that has anything to do with this review. Well, I have two responses to that question. The first, due to the pandemic, the beach is an absolute ghost town with not a soul in sight, wasted or sober. I would then begin to tell you that due to the emptiness of the beach, there is an incredibly ominous feeling that the entire oceanfront is cocooned in right now. There is an anxiety that lingers over the hotels, storefronts, and deserted streets. This record reflects that emotion very much so. There is an anxiety to this record that makes it remarkably compelling and engaging. This record challenged me in a way that no other record has this year. While it’s filled to the brim with hooks and bouncy grooves, it remains at a point that feels it will boil over at any minute. But it doesn’t. It just stays at that point and keeps the tension locked in its grasp, like a Spider Wasp holding a Huntsman Spider and slowly consuming it alive. Nothing is True and Everything is Possible doesn’t let you go until it’s over, and even then, you wonder if it actually ended, leaving you with no definitive resolution.
The record starts off sprinting with “THE GREAT UNKNOWN.” I kept visualizing myself and Jamie Lee Curtis at the end of the new Halloween movie that came out a few years back. It’s like she and I had Michael trapped in her basement as he waits for the house to go up in flames. The tension builds throughout the entire song with each chorus acting as a climax, comparable to the rise and fall of a wooden roller coaster at Coney Island. The group’s frontman, Rou Reynolds has an anguish in his voice that tangles with razor sharp guitar tones and engrossing drum patterns. He keeps repeating, “If there’s anyone out there / just give me a sign,” as if he is asking the listener to participate in his quest for solace.
Looking further ahead, “{ The Dreamer’s Hotel },” a song that had a music video to accompany it, describes exactly the scene that I found myself in at the oceanfront. This track has a super high energy feel with the chorus to match it, making it a perfect single for the record. The lyrics describe a hotel with a whole lot of rooms and no one to fill them – an eerie similar situation that not only Virginia Beach is undergoing, but the world at large during this current pandemic. It’s almost like a party that is absolutely crushing, with a DJ playing to no one but an empty space, and full Vodka and Red Bull’s gathering condensation, lacking lips to consume it. This is an absolutely engaging track that spins and spins in your head well after it concludes.
“Waltzing off the Face of the Earth (I. Crescendo)” is just flat out uncomfortable and tense. Reynolds repeats “And everything is possible / nothing is true” while menacing keys weave with drum patterns that sway in a waltz pattern. I imagined Will Smith at the of end I Am Legend standing on the other side of the zombies, just waiting to get overrun.
“modern living…” definitely surprised me. I felt like I was listening to Devo and watching Rockstar all at the same time. I’m not a huge fan, maybe due to my distaste with overtly 80’s sounding music in general. It’s a track you could skip without missing much.
However, the record really finds its stride with “the pressure’s on” and “T.I.N.A.” Both tracks are polar opposites, with the former sounding like it was heavily influenced by The 1975, and the ladder sounding like a sweet-tempered deep cut off of Common Dreads. Both offer an awesome listening experience. If you listen to them back to back (skipping over the interlude), you’ll want to set up your old Easy-Bake Oven (those cookies were dope) with your favorite childhood stuffed animals (mine were a blue gorilla and polar bear) in the middle of circle pit during Ozzfest 2004.
Moving towards the latter part of the record, “Elegy For Extinction” is super fun. The first 75% of the song makes you feel like you are nine again and about to get into Macaulay Culkin’s limo in Home Alone 2 with your very own cheese pizza, ready to take on the toy store. The only difference between that movie and this song is that it ends with you being eaten by the T-Rex from Jurassic Park once you get to the store (sorry, no turtle doves for you, *evil laugh*). The song dissolves into absolute fear. It’s a breath of fresh air that ties in well with the rest of the record.
The record ends with feelings of uncertainty, with a “to be continued” vibe. I feel like there’s a second part to this record that needs to be written. The last track, “Waltzing off the Face of the Earth (II. Piangevole)” ends on an endearing high note that feels jubilant, but with a sour aftertaste. I really hope they have a follow up waiting to be written in the same vein, because a finite conclusion feels needed to tie the loose ends together. All in all, a solid listen from front to back and highly recommended.