Kasabian’s sixth album offers some interesting tunes, while also feeling like a celebration of the past few years.
Kasabian ended off their UK tour for their newest album, ‘For Crying Out Loud’, in December. But the band are looking to strike back at Isle of Wight Festival in June of this year. Here is a look back at one of the bands best albums in the past few years.
Kasabian’s fifth studio album, 48:13, was described by band member Sergio Pizzorno as, “a journey” rather than a “collection of singles”. ‘For Crying Out Loud’ feels like the perfect payoff and celebration to this ‘journey’, featuring some of the best of what Kasabian has to offer. The album was inspired by Leicester City’s amazing premier league win in the 2015/2016 season and feels like Kasabian wanted to keep the party going. It also focuses on the multicultural background of their hometown and how it has changed the city. The deluxe edition of this album also features multiple live versions of songs from their previous performance at the King Power Stadium, this review will only focus on the original content provided in the album, which includes the first 12 tracks.
The biggest songs on the album include widely popular, ‘Comeback Kid’, the un-relentless, ‘Ill Ray (The King)’ and Kasabian’s new masterpiece song of attraction, ‘You’re In Love With a Psycho’.
The first song on the album, ‘Ill Ray (The King)’, feels like a reply to all the doubting football fans who believed Leicester’s premier league challenge was impossible. Its fast place reflects upon Leicester’s style of football, quick counter-attacking, which makes for one interesting and exciting opening track.
‘You’re In Love With a Psycho’ is almost the opposite of the previous track, focusing on a much slower pace but delivering a message stating that you can’t choose who you fall in love with and, “there’s nothing you can do about it”. ‘Wasted’ feels like a continuation of this romantic theme, focusing on bringing us a summer focused banger.
‘Twentyfourseven’ really shines at its chorus, with some strong vocals and an electric instrumental focus which really keep the party going. ‘Put Your Life On It’ continues this strong chorus focus, almost feeling like a singalong, trying to invite everyone to join in on the success.
‘Comeback Kid’ found popularity due to its feature in the newest entry of the FIFA gaming series. The track almost feels like it commits crimes against surrealism, with references to a “Sasquatch in a bin bag”. But that’s just part of the fun, which in turn is a reflection on Kasabian’s wacky style and lyrics. It really shines with its energetic chorus, which will get anyone on their feet; it’s catchy, unique and a personal favourite of mine in this album.
‘All through the night’ is the slowest track on the album, and reflects something unique for Kasabian, it is feels like quite an emotional track, which can catch some fans off guard, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that this is another great track.
‘Bless This Acid House’ feels more like an old-school Kasabian track, being compared to that of ‘Club Foot’, possibly Kasabian’s best track ever. It shifts the focus mainly on the guitar, which is also a reflection on their previous album, in which most of the tracks were written on the guitar. It is great that Kasabian has continued their experiment over to this new album.
The weakest tracks on the album include, ‘Sixteen Blocks’, ‘Good Fight’, ‘The Party Never Ends’ and, ‘Are You Looking For Action’ They aren’t bad tracks, however, in an album full of amazing tracks, there are bound to be some that may struggle to reach those heights. ‘The Party Never Ends’ is a decent track which sadly suffers from slow pacing compared to the rest of the album, and ironically is nowhere near the longest track on here. ‘Are You Looking For Action’ is the opposite, sitting at over 8 minutes long, it would have been better suited in an album that didn’t have a focus on being fast and energetic.
Overall, the album is vibrant, at times exhilarating and shows no sign of stopping, even its weaker tracks aren’t half bad, but the great tracks really do shine here. Fans should be excited about the prospect of what’s next for Kasabian and look to the future with high hopes.
Overall Rating: 4/5
By Jimmy Ioannou
Images Provided By Kasabian and Amazon UK
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