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You are here: Polari Magazine / Music / Rat Race • Enter Shikari

Rat-Race

Rat Race

★★★★★
Enter Shikari
3.17 min • Ambush Reality • November 4, 2013
Little Bastard reviews
…………………………………………………………………………………………

Enter Shikari seem almost unstoppable. Their last album, the Eco-dub metal of A Flash Flood Of Colour, cemented their transition from gimmick dance metal band to fully fledge rock powerhouse, with something to say both musically and lyrically. Parts of that album still make me cry, with its overt message that we’re destroying our planet and ourselves, and I was worried they wouldn’t be able to match it. So far, outside of that album, Enter Shikari have released three singles, the stomping ‘Radiate’, the short but ferocious ‘Paddington Frisk’ and now the awesome ‘Rat Race’, my favourite of the three. These stand alone singles don’t better the previous material, but they at least equal it.

With its frenetic tempo changes, speed metal screams and double drums, meshed with its melodic hook and usual Shikari synths, the latest single is the perfect blend of the heavy and the pop. Their message is always intensely political, and ‘Rat Race’ is no different. Screaming about the pointless demands of rat race culture, where people work to consume over and over, breaking into a chorus of,

You see the purpose of the rat race defeats me,
When we’re gone, what’s left behind?
But there seems to be no end or no reason,
But we still carry on –

As always, it’s powerful stuff, and Enter Shikari seem to be the only prominent band talking about consumer culture and our intensely corrupt economic and political system with as much passion as most people talk about money and bitches. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why Enter Shikari are the most important band in music at the moment.

Its claustrophobic music video – half Blair Witch shaky camera chase and half neon lit spinning box of terror – totally captures the Groundhog Day on acid feel of the song, and visually manifests the thoroughly claustrophobic feeling that modern city life impresses upon those that naturally want to push against it. The single comes with a Shikari Sound System remix of previous single ‘Radiate’, which turns the club stomper into a laid back drum ‘n’ bass tinged lament that totally transcends the original track’s harshness and makes it a beautiful calm protest.

With a massive world tour accumulating in a headline slot at the famous Warped Tour at Alexandra Palace this Sunday, it looks like the world might be finally ready to take notice of the Shikari boys, and if the strength of their recent output and their political conviction is anything to go by, they could change the world. Till then, I’ll carry on screaming at the top of my lungs to anyone that will listen, and I hope you will too.

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About Polari Magazine

Polari Magazine is an LGBT arts and culture magazine that explores the subculture by looking at what is important to the people who are in it. It’s about the lives we lead, not the lifestyles we’re supposed to lead.

Its content is informed & insightful, and features a diverse range of writers from every section of the community. Its intent is to help LGBT readers learn about their own heritage and to sustain a link between the present and the past.

Polari is designed to nurture the idea of community, whether that be social and political, or artistic and creative. It is your magazine, whether you want to read it, or whether you want to get involved in it, if you're gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, or queer.

Polari Magazine is all these: it's a gay online magazine; it's a gay and lesbian online magazine; it's an LGBT arts and culture magazine. Ultimately, it is a queer magazine.

Latest Posts

  • Polari Magazine 2008-2014December 3, 2014 - 6:16 pm
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  • Future Islands • GigDecember 2, 2014 - 1:41 pm
  • Puppets with Attitude (at Christmas)December 1, 2014 - 6:30 pm
  • The Aesthetic of Voyeurism: Interview with Antonio Da SilvaDecember 1, 2014 - 1:25 pm
  • Broke With Expensive Taste • Azealia BanksNovember 28, 2014 - 3:59 pm
  • Royalty Strutting on an American College Stage: Miss and Mr. Gay ISU 2014November 27, 2014 - 2:59 pm
  • Bright Light Bright Light: Everything I Ever WantedNovember 26, 2014 - 11:15 am
  • Jaime Nanci And The Blueboys: ‘Toy’ TalkNovember 25, 2014 - 4:09 pm

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