You can get away with arrogance as a frontman to a certain extent, if you can back it up with your music – Alex Turner and the Arctic Monkeys, say no more. Thus far, Tom Meighan has guided Kasabian through four classy albums, each one daring and explosive enough to keep the attention firmly on the music and away from his divisive demeanour. Now, ten years into a hugely fruitful career, in a year that sees Kasabian reach the holy grail of headlining Glastonbury, the pressure to deliver is on more than ever.

First things first: enough of the hype surrounding the ‘look’ of the album. It’s got a stupid title; it’s got minimalist artwork – so what? They’re not the first band to do it and they won’t be the last. How about the important stuff? The music? Right then…

Instrumental opener ‘(shiva)’ – the first of three transition tracks – picks up from where 2011’s ‘Velociraptor!’ left off with slow, closer ‘Neon Noon’. Fading in with an electric, razor-sounding whir, it crescendoes to an abrupt halt and we’re flung unceremoniously into ‘bumblebee’, a song named by guitarist Serge Pizzorno’s infant son nonetheless. “We’re in ecstacyyy” is Meighan’s claim on a song of fervent “HEY!”s and seismic drops that could induce mosh pits savage enough to rival Metallica at Glastonbury.

If ‘bumblebee’ serves as a portal into the band’s new world, follow-up ‘stevie’ signals something of a return to the Kasabian of old. A somewhat ominous orchestral intro leads into cool, composed verses which all build up to an anthemic, sure-fire sing-along of a chorus. Definitely another one to whip out at Worthy Farm in a few weeks.

For the most part, though, ’48:13’ finds Kasabian in unchartered territory. ‘doomsday’ sounds, in parts, like you’ve just walked into some strange kind of electro-rock circus, whilst ‘glass’ plays like a tripped-out journey through the murky depths in a doomed submarine.

Then there’s ‘eez-eh’, lead single and standout moment, worthy of a feature review in its own right. It will worm its way into your central nervous system and send you dancing deliriously with its reverberating, rave-worthy beat. And with lyrics as ingenious as “There’s cobras in the mosh pit, finally we lost it, every day is brutal, now we’re being watched by Google”, you’d be hard-pushed to find fault in this hair-raising humdinger of a tune.

It’s only after this blast of adrenaline that the record starts to shift down a gear. “It’s all over now” goes penultimate track ‘Bow’. Not quite. The love ballad that now seems obligatory on Kasabian albums rounds things off. Described by Serge Pizzorno as “a little hug at the end”, ‘SPS’ (Scissor Paper Stone) aims to snap you out of your state of delirium and bring you down gently with soothing choral harmonies.

Kasabian could, by now – like many bands – have become complacent and churned out a half-hearted effort of an album. But they’re better than that, which is why they’re one of the two – along with the Arctic Monkeys – last standing BIG British rock bands. Much like their compatriots from just up the M1, they’re sounding more expansive than ever and have landed the biggest shows of their lives. Kasabian are rock royalty now, for sure.

4/5

 

Tom Hancock

@_TomHancock