Kasabian
Velociraptor!

"Velociraptor!" Honestly, I stopped looking for meaning in the titles of Kasabian's albums right after the previous "West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum" and I certainly won't try to find any analogies with a dinosaur, but with equal certainty, I state that in recent years, only the album titles are the senseless thing about the English band.

They had left us at excellent levels two years ago, and they return with the same quality spiced up with new ideas. The approach to this fourth work could already be summed up with the carefree opening track "Let's Roll Just Like We Used To" or with the second single "Days Are Forgotten", proving that the duo Tom Meighan/Sergio Pizzorno can write both psychedelic pieces like "Cutt Off" or "Underdog" and pleasant melodies like "LSF" or "Fire", and a track like "Days Are Forgotten" is among the many that summarize the group's versatility from Leicester. Something compared to the previous albums has indeed changed, as evidenced by a couple of unexpected tracks, "Goodbye Kiss" and "La Fee Verte" seem to have been written 40 years ago and kept in a drawer next to magnolia flowers, certainly songs not well-suited for the band but particularly noteworthy for being different. The track that captures the band's classic essence is the title track "Velociraptor!" which is to Kasabian what a Spritz is to prosecco, (and Pizzorno knows a thing or two about alcohol, guaranteed by a band touring with them at the I-Day 2009).

Returning to the unusual titles, "Acid Turkish Bath" gives that oriental touch which has become the group's trademark since their beginnings; an engaging track in confused atmospheres with psychedelic nuances, absolutely captivating despite its 6-minute length making it the longest song on the album. Track after track, it is almost impossible to find weak links in the solid chain of Velociraptor!, even the so-called filler tracks, like "I Hear Voices", convince without faltering. Another peak of the album (and in my opinion of their entire discography) is the track "Re-Wired", fresh, effective, and above all, catchy, sticks in your head after one or two listens without being cheesy. Meighan, both as a lyricist and as a composer, confirms himself at the top of the British rock scene, remaining nevertheless a 'man of simple pleasures', "Man of Simple Pleasure", an excellent track that opens up to the album's first single, "Switchable Smiles", which due to the robust presence of samples, harks back to the early days of the English quartet. The album couldn't close without a slow track, after having tracks like "British Legion" 5 years ago and "Happiness" in 2009, it ends with the melancholic "Neon Noon", a worthy closure to an album of extreme craftsmanship.

What I criticize the band for is not having completed the work with a couple of breathtaking pieces, making what is, in my opinion, already an excellent and broad-minded album. Unlike, for example, fellow countrymen Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian confirm themselves once again as one of the pinnacle bands of the new British Music movement, and if the press constantly precedes them with the A. Monkeys, the latter are left to keep monkeying around on the stages, hoping not to face the carnivorous presence of a ruthless Velociraptor!

Rating: 9