Kasabian
Kasabian are like that strange takeaway joint in your neighbourhood; you aren’t quite sure what you’re going to get, but you know it’s going to be interesting. Their lavishly titled third album ‘West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum’ is more of the same in that respect. They provide us with the shards of brilliance and moments of mediocrity that we’ve come to expect from the Leicester lads.
Underdog and Fast Fuse are the Kasabian we remember, with their trademark blend of chunky guitar riffs and psychedelic synth, garnished nicely with Tom Meighan’s instinctive vocals. Underdog serves as the perfect starter, and Fast Fuse maintains the opening momentum right through to the middle.
But then chief songwriter, Sergio Pizzorno cracks out an acoustic guitar and hires a string section for Take Aim, reaching that obligatory section on a Kasabian album where their overambitious nature doesn’t quite pay off. The acoustically driven Thick as Thieves is nice enough, but the incongruity with the rest of the album leaves this section weak.
One should persevere though, because when Kasabian get it right, they get it right to a level that few can. Hook laden Vlad the Impaler employs the bass guitar for its true purpose – to kick arse – and if there’s a better outro in music than that of the infectious album highlight Fire, I don’t want to know about it.
The experimentation in Kasabian’s third is possibly what’s keeping the band from international success. Not every song is a successful experiment, but there’s enough good here to say that your money is well spent with a copy of WRPLA.
