Track Listing

1. Empire
2. Shoot The Runner
3. Last Trip (In Flight)
4. Me Plus One
5. Sun Rise Light Flies
6. Apnoea
7. By My Side
8. Stuntman
9. Seek And Destroy
10. British Legion
11. Doberman

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #554 in Music
• Released on: 2006-08-28
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk
'We're all wasting away!' barks vocalist Tom Meighan on the opening, title track to Kasabian's second album, Empire. A quick peek at the sales figures, however, proves that lean times are most certainly not on the horizon. After clocking up close to a million sales of their debut album, Leicester's post-baggy rock troupe have returned with an album that ramps up all their key hallmarks: the swagger of the Gallagher brothers, the wide-pupils euphoria of acid house/acid-rock, and the crushing, propulsive dancefloor heaviness of beered-up disco rabble-rousers Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim. From "Last Trip (In Flight)", a sort of gospel-enhanced remake of Hawkwind's "Silver Machine", to the driving, techno-engineered "Stuntman", it's heavy on the choruses, heavy on the fireworks, and seemingly custom-made for a festival crowd – which is, of course, no bad thing. "British Legion" is a surprising stand-out, an Lennon-esque ballad accompanied by acoustic guitar. And while the mystic-tinged "Sun/Rise/Light/Flies" suggests that shimmering Indian strings might be becoming as much of a cliché as the bolt-on orchestra was in Britpop times, you somehow doubt Kasabian are at all bothered by the prospect of being too obvious. After all, it's the job of Empire to stamp Kasabian's name onto your face with a hob-nailed boot, and it succeeds in its mission admirably. –-Louis Pattison

CD Description
The follow-up to their self-titled 2004 debut, 'Empire' marks the triumphant return of the Leicester based indie-electronica fusionists. Produced by Jim Abbiss (Editors, Arctic Monkeys) at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth 'Empire' delivers a more mature, expansive sound, coupled with Kasabian's trademark confident swaggering style. Includes the single 'Empire'.

Customer Reviews

Disappointing
After hearing the title track 'Empire' on MTV2, I decided I was definitely going to buy this album. I enjoyed the debut album immensely, depsite the fact there were a few weak tracks.

I definitely think the band have regressed with this album. I thought some of the music from the self-titled album was quite inspiring and unique but with 'Empire', too many of the tracks sound similar and, if you take out the title track, it's just typical rock music, which I find rather dull. There was a more frequent use of electronica on the 'Kasabian' album, blended with baggy rock music, clearly influenced by 'The Stone Roses' and 'The Happy Mondays', which made it a very stong debbut album and made the band so huge in this country, and globally.

I'm not saying the music on the album is rubbish. 'Stuntman' is a good track and there are a few other decent tracks but apart from 'Empire', nothing on the album is that memorable or outstanding.

Buy it for 'Empire' but I strongly suggest you purchase the debut album if you want hear the band's real talent.

Very disappointing
I have to agree with the previous comments - this album is a real let down after I enjoyed the first so much. The first two tracks are good (I've listened to Empire about a million times already) but that's it, nothing else interested me. Basically if you liked the track ID from the first album and you want more of the same, forget about it, it isn't there and I don't like what they've done instead. I would previously have described myself as an avid fan (heh!) but not any more.

Where are the tunes?
I really wanted to like this album.

The debut album was a corker on account of half a dozen great tunes. Admittedly, the debut album was let down slightly by the remaining tracks which were nothing more than fillers, but I was really looking forward to the new album coming out.

But where are the tunes on 'Empire'? With the exception of 'Shoot the Runner' - which is a corker - they're just not there.

The songs are pretty well crafted with tempo changes gallore, but stylistically, the new album is a bit of a rag bag.

It starts with 'Empire' and 'Shoot the Runner' - two brash, confident, almost glam tracks - which whet the appetite for more of the same. But then the rest of the album descends into something more akin to Primal Scream (circa Evil Heat) on a bad day. And the tunes are just not there.

Lyrically, too, it is pretty disappointing. All very predictable, and at a time when the Arctic Monkeys are upping the ante with their wordsmithery, Kasabian haven't been able to raise their game.

This is certainly not the magnum opus which the Kasabian PR machine would have us believe it is.