Toronto – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum is the third album from English band Kasabian. It was produced by Dan The Automator and is set to be released tomorrow. Based on some early listens, this album is surprisingly good. I was not the biggest fan of Empire, and had expected Kasabian to go down that same disappointing path that a lot of bands seem to follow these days which is:

1. concert buzz/crazy show
2. Excessive fan promotion on the internet
3. Impressive EP is released
4. Massive Hype
5. Debut Album
6. Massive touring
7. Come down second album, that is not as popular
8. harcore fans move on to next big band
9. Third album nobody pays attention to. (if they makes it this far)
10. Band fades to obscurity

Luckily for us, Kasabian has decided to change up the sound and a nice psychedelic rock album arrived as a result. Where as the first album focused primarily on generating a kick ass beat and crazy rock out moments, WRPL seems to slow the pace down a bit, and focus on creating a more layered sound. Horns and strings add an eastern music vibe to “Take Aim”, Mariachi guitar reigns prominently in “Thick as Thieves” and even Rosario Dawson pipes in as a guest on “West Ryder Silver Bullet”. Longtime Kasabian fans need not be wary though, there are still some dancey rompers on the album, including “Fire”, “Fast Fuse” and the lead single “Vlad The Impaler”.

All in all, a pleasant third effort from Kasabian. I hope they come to Toronto for a tour, their light show was amazing last time I saw them and they put on a pretty damn good show.