The greatest appeal of Kasabian's second album is the obvious emotional detachment. The lyrics of Empire are primarily about relationships and fear, but the music is often jarring. The band would most likely fall into the genre of Brit-rock, but it's a numbing rock -- the stories are near-impossible to extract from the noise.
"Shoot The Runner" is catchy and, upon closer listening, also sexual. There's a line about having sex in the snow, but it's not romantic. These lovers are jaded, and the whole experience is painted as bland. The punch line is, "I'm a king and you're my queen, bitch." One must wonder what inspires songwriters to express themselves like this. Why the animosity?
The lyrics of some of these songs would attain some more meaning if they weren't drowning in five layers of electronic noise. "Last Trip" gives us, "I don't sit alone 'cause I've got you," and "Seek and Destroy" offers, "All I have now is being here with you." Ultimately, though, there aren't stories, and these plotless songs are about little more than a bitter existence.
The beats, which drown out the lyrics in many of the songs, evoke techno. "Me Plus One" pleads, "I want love, love, love right now," but all the extra noise makes it too poppy to be taken seriously. Randomly there are energetic interjections of "So, come on!" It doesn't mesh, and the repetition is more urgent than poetic. Kasabian's vocals are best when they stand alone without guitars and drums. "British Legion" is temporarily effective in cutting through the clutter.
"Doberman" is the closing and most intense track on the CD, with screeching vocals and background guitars. It's an avalanche of chaos and dissonance which transitions into a jazz trumpet solo that trails off through the half-spoken words, "Watch them disappear." The trumpet is intended to disturb. Even more annoyingly, it's hard to tell where the Doberman comes into play, what the cause of the excitement was and what's disappearing. Perhaps this song, like the rest of the album, shouldn't be analyzed too deeply. Maybe the Doberman and the Empire are just states of mind -- depressed, disgruntled states of mind.
Kasabian is a challenging listen. Like songs from their first album, this CD is full of slurred and mumbled vocals. The jacket doesn't give you the satisfaction of complete lyrics either. Maybe we need to forgive them because they're British, and you can't be cool unless you pretend to "get" unintelligible foreign music.
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