Kasabian - Velociraptor!

Interestingly, the album is currently the bookies favourite to win the Mercury Award next year in spite of this mixed response so far. Whilst Kasabian have always been innovative, perhaps it is this uneasy mellowing into rock that has segregated critics in such a manner. Up until and including West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, the band had a constantly shifting and evolving image and sound: from the heavy techno of ‘Clubfoot’ to the moody warbling of ‘Empire’, to the rock ‘n’ blues twist of ‘Underdog’. The latest album, however, does not denote a major shift from their previous effort.

This is not to say that Velociraptor! should be cast out as a blatent copy and stagnation of previous EPs, but a perfecting of the niche that Kasabian have now found themselves occupying.

‘Let’s Just Roll Like We Used To’ is an example of such a feat: the combination of slow clashing synths is reminiscent of Kasabian’s early releases, before the track gives way to moody plucking from Edwards’ bass that serves to complement the almost rambling like sound of Meighan that has boosted Kasabian’s unique appeal. Personally, I find the track appears as a lush theme to the quintet’s talents and showcases various influences across the band’s history.

Noteworthy songs include ‘Goodbye Kiss’, wherein all comparisons to Mancunian thunder stealers Oasis are most recognisable, and yet the soft rock approach grants the group opportunity to express their craft; both with subtle lyrics and smooth vocals, the track is refreshing where Oasis became stagnant and began to sound distanced from their material.

Almost as homage to Bond film themes, ‘Acid Turkish Bath’ is quite the standout recommendation: the duality between the vocals of Pizzorno and Meighan creates a negative space which hits home as the pair pluck away at social problems, fame and whether “there’s a place for me in history”. The need of shelter is clear not only in the conviction of lyrics, but in the intensity and speed with which they are presented and so snatched away. Serenity and peace afforded by “New Year’s Day” are so haunting and idealistic against the ever changing arrangement of instruments introduced.

From its riffed opening to its cross faded experiment in synths and back, the piece acts as a focal point of an album that speaks so openly of the fall of man. Amongst the most poignant of these ideas, ‘I Hear Voices’ proclamation that “My soul you can have it cause it don't mean shit; I'll sell it to the devil for another hit” has everything rendered worthless by petty prices, and ‘Man of Simple Pleasures’ is almost masochistic and manic in the need to feel so very on the edge: “Hit me! Harder! I'm getting re-wired. I flip the switch that make you feel electric”.

No doubt this offering does not provide the same combination of instant hits that West Ryder delivered, and there are times when the somewhat darker and sinister tracks are tantamount to unfulfilled attempts at reinventing image again. However, this album reads as one long song: each individual track relates to a journey undertaken by the group and adds to the depth and sincerity that would have otherwise been so lacking and absent.

In the words of the title song, “The voodoo, the vaccine, the boredom, the routine, too much for the addicts, the maniacs, the papers, the vapour: the pressure of so called normal behaviour” are such integral parts of the album that it speaks across various levels and too all members of society at a time when no more so has the country been divided.

"It’s been 15 or 16 years since the last truly classic album” stated Serge Pizzorno before the release of Velociraptor! Perhaps the sentiment and production displayed throughout will have this esteemed a classic by the next Mercury Award nominations.

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