I'd say that I'm quite fair and neutral when it comes to reviewing a Kasabian record. I'm not one of those critics that are too blinded by their hatred of the band to give their music a fair hearing, and I'm not one of the deluded hype mongers who believe they're the saviours of rock n roll. Like a lot of people, I find their arrogance ludicrously silly, and their habit of talking absolute bollocks doesn't exactly make me like them any more. But it doesn't prevent me from enjoying some of their music, which often combines styles and sounds to create something that's melodic and anthemic, yet forward thinking and modern. I'll admit to being sceptical about their first two albums, but soon fell under their spell, and consider 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum' and 2011's 'Velociraptor' to be superb pieces of work. '48:13' is their fifth studio album, and strips back the more layered sound of their previous two efforts to return to a stripped back electronic based sound that leaves space for simple touches to make more of an impact.
The brief 'Shiva' just sounds like one minute of them testing out a load of analogue synths, before the forceful baggy trip hop of 'Bumblebee' brings to mind an amalgamation of Led Zeppelin, The Chemical Brothers and Wu Tang Clan, jumping out the speakers with a rowdy chorus that goes off like a bomb. Dodgy lyrics aside, it's impressive. Even better is the defiant 'Stevie', which comes pacing down the track like a hungry assassin, full of vigour and ready to do battle. The short segue '(Mortis)' precedes the electro-ska hip hop madness of the brilliantly arranged, hook packed 'Doomsday', which is so much fun that the clichéd banality of the lyrics can be overlooked. The hard breakbeat funk of progressive centrepiece 'Treat' is exactly as the title says, progressing into a hypnotic house groove, another example of how they can get it right by applying fantastic, imaginative instrumentation. One of their best.


The album concludes with the sleepy, country-tinged acoustic ballad 'SPS', where the electronics are nowhere to be heard. Listenable enough but completely out of place and somewhat unremarkable, especially for a closing track.
So a mixed bag then, containing a handful of superb tracks and just as many bad ones. By going with their gut instincts, their ideas can work brilliantly when the quality is there, but their overconfidence leads to laziness and a not giving a fuck about the lyrical improvements that needed to be made. Didn't anyone around them have the balls to advise them that the lyrics might have needed some serious tweaking? It's undeniable that at times they are great at what they do, and their genre blending has to be admired. But the album takes a woeful slide during its second half, declining into uninspired, predictable dross. Out of all the entries in their discography so far, '48:13' is the album that highlights both the very best and the very worst sides of Kasabian. 5.5/10
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