2009. That definitely feels like eleven years ago. I was in my third year of secondary school going through the motions. In the midst of all the education was happening, Enter Shikari announced their second album Common Dreads was to be released. ‘Juggernauts’ was the first single.

It was a long time ago that I wouldn’t be able to detail everything I remember when hearing the track for the first time. Think I recall noting the difference in the tone of Rou Reynolds’ voice – there was something of a heftiness to it that wasn’t so much there on Take to the Skies – and he looked much different than he did two years prior. Aging does do that naturally so that shouldn’t be much a surprise but to fourteen-year-old me I thought he looked like a totally different person. The music video would be able to provide evidence for my reaction back then, but it’s been blocked worldwide. Well, at least in my country.

Right out the gate though, ‘Juggernauts’ lives up to its name with an introduction that charges forward with a hectic synthesizer riff and pummeling drums. From there Reynolds, with added backing vocals from bassist Chris Batten, addresses in his words ‘the theme of corporate power, the brute force they have and the ability they have to do literally anything they want’. He said that in a track-by-track commentary of the album which I may as well embed below.

The first verse Reynolds doesn’t so much sing but speak which saw various publications instantly compare the vocal delivery to Mike Skinner of The Streets. The band weren’t too pleased about this. But you can’t really blame the media for pointing it out. I don’t think I was a big fan of it initially. I grew to like it in the end. I much more a fan of the singing parts though. They possess a very strident melody which I can get into every time I hear it.