Kasabian

From the pavement splashing of A Clockwork Orange right through to Michael Hutchence wanking himself to death, there’s nothing more rock n’ roll than a bit of carnivorous rock; a bit of guitar violence. Kasabian want you to like 'Xtrmntr' as much as they do, whereas Mad Action suck the same Jesus And Mary Chain lemon as BRMC. Sadly, it’s without the looks, stoner cool or, most importantly, the tunes.

Hailing from Philadelphia and with the rhythm section hidden behind a screen, it’s just guitarist/vocalists Paul Nicgorski and Ryan Bernstein. Hauling their Guided By Meat Puppets scree around in the most arty of fashions, posing and sneering like true Hoxtonites, the glimpses of brilliance are there, but far from convincing.

Kasabian’s brilliance lies in their simplicity. No posturing, no twirly guitar theatrics and no pointless electronic nonsense. Beats, bass and banging tunes are what they’re about. Ultimately, it’s a big psychedelic mash up of early nineties Primals and crossed over with the same urgency of BRMC and The Cooper Temple Clause. Indeed. ‘Reason Is Treason’ is a distant cousin of ‘Film Maker’, but its straight-down-the-line guitars give it an unrivalled intensity. The only other band that makes you wanna dance like this is The Music. But let’s face it, they’re ugly as sin.

Kasabian thankfully, look like centre-folds for the soon to be departed J17 posters pages. Lead guitarist/songwriter Serge, stamps away like a more carefully trimmed relative of the Kings Of Leon, towering like Jack White. Frontman Tom Meighan meanwhile, pouts and sways like Ian Brown himself. ‘Processed Beats’ continues to get rawer, melding its meaty, baggy bassline with trippy electronic samples and bulldozing guitars. Next single, ‘Club Foot’ is frankly astonishing. Imagine The Cult reborn as the Happy Mondays soundtracking your favourite violent computer game.

Kasabian’s mission in life isn’t to be the next Tool, it’s to get people excited. It’s to make people dance away the mediocrity of routine rock music and take a machine gun to the likes of Busted. It’s to bone back idle boredom with some proper rock tunes. Charlie Manson would be proud. Jihad been warned.