Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible

The follow-up to 2017s willfully eclectic The Spark, the aptly named Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible sees the English trancecore enthusiasts deliver one of the most innovative and genre-obliterating efforts of the year. Doubling down on the electro apocalypse-pop of its predecessor, the 15-track set is awash in jarring stylistic shifts and spilling over with ideas that dont always work, but when they do, fireworks often ensue. Punchy opener The Great Unknown commences with the question Is this a new beginning, or are we close to the end?, and then attempts to provide an answer with a relentless barrage of 808 beats and distorted synths that evoke the agitated electro-pop of Everything Everything. Crossing the Rubicon follows suit, but dumps a huge bucket of hooks into the hopper, as does late-album highlight The King, albeit with a dash of hip-hop and ska-punk tossed in for good measure. Enter Shikari officially begin their descent into the rabbit hole with the arrival of Waltzing off the Face of the Earth (I. Crescendo), a dizzying bit of electro-oom-pah that segues into the knotty grime-pop of Modern Living, which sounds like artificial intelligence taking a stab at Bittersweet Symphony. From there on out its a mad walkabout through straight-up classical (Elegy for Extinction), dubstep-fueled EDM (The Pressures On), and icy Kid A-leaning ambient music (Reprise 3), with just enough of the emo-tinged post-hardcore attack of the groups early days to let the listener know whos behind the curtain. Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible is either the best or the worst Enter Shikari outing to date. What it certainly isnt is dull. ~ James Christopher Monger