Hacktivist: Shikari on steroids?
That oh so shrouded corner of the Rock market. We see the odd occurrence of a particularly influential band coming out of it, often very commercially viable because of its lack of competitors. Not sure what I’m on about? Rap Metal. I suppose it’s almost unavoidable to mention Rage Against the Machine, right? Then you’ve got bands like Limp Bizkit, and despite their inconsistency with the rap element, you know people are gonna shamelessly bring up the anomaly that is Linkin Park. I mention these bands because the next two bands I am going to mention (spoiler alert – they’re in the title) are a great example of, for lack of a better phrase, ‘modernising’ the genre, or at least subverting it.
Enter Shikari have been around for a while now – I remember not being interested in these guys 6-7 years ago when all my friends thought they were cool – and are very successful and influential. Shikari modernise a Rap Metal genre in a couple of ways: they created a painfully obvious fusion between rap elements and electronic elements, to such an extent that you have to wonder why it took so long for a band to figure it out (of course, they won’t have been first. I’m aware that a lot of my claims are at times rooted in utter nonsense, but its all fun and games, right?). As a 15-year old, there was one aspect of them that did interest me, as I shamelessly obsessed over Metallica during my early guitar-playing phases – Rou Reynolds’ clear intentions to promote how politically charged they wanted to be perceived. It almost becomes difficult to pick one particular song that is an example of this. Purely for the sake of giving you something to look at, ‘Gap in the Fence’ is a great example of an almost polite attempt to express anger at governmental powers. Having said that, if you aren't already a Shikari fan, you absolutely have to listen to the entirety of Take to the Skies and Common Dreads. You won't regret it.
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| Hacktivist |
There is one glaring difference between the two bands, however, which is, essentially, an extra string or two on the guitars which find themselves on stage with Hacktivist. I am of course being pedantic, but the modern progressive instrumentation, with the use of 7/8 string guitars and the oh-so-Djent use of the "breakdown", replaces the sound-sets from which Shikari would more-than-likely have placed electronics.
In terms of Chronology, it would be factually incorrect to claim that Hacktivist are a ‘modern’ version of Shikari, since they are, as of right now, currently both making music. Interestingly, the reason why I wanted to write this piece is because Enter Shikari have just announced that they are to tour with Hacktivist , and it got me thinking about just how perfect of a combination this is. - As a side note, it's worth mentioning that this is not the first time they have toured together. Someone picked up on the beautiful combination of these two way before these last couple of months.
Hacktivist are undoubtedly in genre terms a ‘modern’ twist on the grounds that were built by Rou Reynolds & co., and for the purposes of a tour, they are the perfect blend. In reply to my title question, the short answer is ‘yes’. The long answer is 'absolutely’. In my opinion, it's as simple as that. It’s not that Shikari’s Djent cousins are in any way more aggressive in their conviction, or any more "angry" (these adjectives are both incredibly subjective, so I’m treading carefully), but sonically, audibly, empirically, their music has that extra oomph due to those focused distorted 7-strings. Who needs a couple of keyboards connected to a Macbook Pro when you can double up extended-range guitars for the ultimate modern-metal experience, right?
All I know is this: Rap Metal never seems to die in the commercial music sector. Regardless of which of the two bands you prefer (there doesn’t have to be a ‘winner’ in anyone's mind; the desire for a victor is one of the overwhelming flaws in popular music critique), it doesn’t need reiterating just how interesting and exciting this tour will be, and the emergence of Hacktivist is something that I know I will have my eye on. Lets face it, their commercial growth is inevitable.
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