Kasabian's Latest Fills Void for Messy Electro Rock
...But haven't we heard it before?
Kasabian
West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Released on Jun 09, 2009
I never really had much of a love
affair with British or American mainstream rock. Many of the trends
and styles that came to such popularity never really seemed to interest
me simply because the whole ordeal was such a mess. Music made for the
radio felt like it was music played to stereotypes. It felt like there
was a bigger need to medicate and give the people “good-old fashioned”
and familiar music rather than to inspire and promote something genuine.
For Kasabian, the same could possibly be applied. For a band that has
constantly been measured up against the bars set by their peers, Kasabian
have never really escaped the excessive cock-eyed swaggering tendencies
that is, essentially, Kasabian. At the end of the day, if you're familiar
and enjoy Kasabian’s previous works then West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum should be a pleasant yet unmemorable listen.
Guitarist Sergio Pizzorno had apparently
felt that album needed a second pair of eyes upon completing it and
enlisted Dan the Automator to give it a spin. Feeling that album needed
to be polished, the group went about reworking and stripping back the
arrangements. Despite all of this, you can’t help but feel that if
the songs were more dense than what we’re listening to, the whole
thing could easily coalesce into a noisy, feedback drenched nightmare.
At it’s current stage, the songs do not feel unnecessarily excessive
which is a testament to the producer’s talent.
But true to Kasabian form, their semi-bloated egos and an oversized sense of confidence clearly translates and dominates the album. Everything from the vocal performance to the guitar effects and solos feels anything but delicate and pretty. There’s a clear sense of dynamics and song-writing focus at work here but the band seems too self-conscious to really dig any deeper than at surface level. And even then, it wouldn’t really fit in with the repertoire of a band of Kasabian’s stature. These guys probably couldn’t write a sincere song without feeling their sense of machismo lost with it. It isn’t a bad thing because some of the songs here might just satisfy your particular need for some fist-pumping rock (always fitting for a workout) but the range never veers too far from there and as a result, makes the album feel repetitious. Late album standout “Vlad the Impaler” picks up some of the steam lost after “Underdog” with it’s tight rhythm section and buzzing psychedelic guitars (and whose accompanying music video is a joy to watch).
Ultimately the issue I take with this album is it’s lack of affecting music. With the exceptions listed above, the album seems to force the feeling on more than a few of their songs. “Ladies and Gentlemen” is a punch drunk song that comes off cheesy and a bit guarded while “Fast Fuse” feels generic and bland at best. If Kasabian can find the balance between the sincerity that they attempt on songs like “Happiness” and match the energy and tension of, say “Underdog,” they might just come up with a rather compelling album. Until then, we will have to live with this rather imperfect work and can only hope that on the next run they can find it in themselves to dig just a little bit deeper.
High Point
On first spin, the album has some solid tracks that do a decent job of making you rock or trip out.
Low Point
Much of the album feels absent of any sort of sincerity and feeling. The time spent stripping the arrangements back only revealed a lack of any real creativity.
Posted by Danny Lopez on Jul 02, 2009 @ 6:00 am