3 out of 5

Produced by: Jim Abbiss, Kasabian

Label: BMG, Columbia

Whether it was fueled on pure bravado, egocentrism, huffed glowsticks, or maybe some mixture of any or all, Kasabian’s debut – bigger than The Beatles and Oasis and all of Britpop combined! – certainly had something, and I think, surprising those of us who give the ol’ raised-eyebrow-down-the-nose look at whatever NME is hyping, whatever it had seemed to balance out the theatrics with Happy Mondays’ beat indulgence to result in an album just smart enough to not be dumb, and rather wonderfully intense from end to end.

So they made their statement, they flew their Kasabian flag; what happens on album two?  Is it a typical sophomore slump, with excesses added to either serious thing up or out-gloss ots predecessor?  Neither of those.  But though it’s not a slump, Empire does lack that Whatever quality the debut had, resulting in some equally thrilling singles, but a much more ephemeral listen overall.

In part, this also seems by design.  Though some of the drug-tinged lyrics, artwork, and album title may suggest more, ‘Empire’ is apparently the band’s term for, essentially, cool, and so the disc is somewhat just in celebration of itself.  Kasabian is comfortable in its skin of acid beats, chanting choruses and head-bobbing guitar riffs; there’s not an immediacy to the delivery, but the songs are still definitely solid and toe-tapping, and are presented with such full-steam-ahead glee, it almost seems like they will match their debut… Until the steam runs out.  Apnoea is an under two-minute drum rush throttle; thereafter it seems like Kasabian want to try their hand at being a “real” band – hints of albums to come – with the more attemptedly relationship-reflective British Legion or the actual layering of Stuntman.  The concept isn’t full formed, though, and the group falls back on big beat tricks often enough, saving one final surprise for the concluding building bombast of The Doberman.

Empire sort of tricks its way out of a sophomore slump by smiling and pretending that nothings changed.  The jig gets exposed partway through the album, but it a valid effort nonetheless, with some memorable – if less-so than their debut – singles.