Empire (Kasabian album)

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Empire
Kasabian - Empire.jpg
Studio album by Kasabian
Released 28 August 2006 / 12 April 2008
Recorded February 2006
Genre
Length 39:24
Label BMG, Columbia
Producer Jim Abbiss, Kasabian
Kasabian chronology
Kasabian
(2004)Kasabian2004		 Empire
(2006)		 West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
(2009)West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum2009
Singles from Empire
  1. "Empire"
    Released: 24 July 2006
  2. "Shoot the Runner"
    Released: 6 November 2006
  3. "Me Plus One"
    Released: 29 January 2007

Empire is the second album by British rock[1] band Kasabian, released in August 2006. The album went on to No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart upon its release and was preceded by the release of new single "Empire" on 24 July 2006.

The album was recorded over two weeks after touring with Oasis.[citation needed] According to Tom Meighan in an interview on the album with the NME in early 2006, "Empire" is a word used by the band to describe something that is good. To date the album has sold over 1 million copies worldwide, including more than 600,000 in the UK.[when?]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 65/100[2]
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 3/5 stars[3]
Entertainment.ie 2/5 stars[4]
The Guardian 3/5 stars[5]
The Independent 3/5 stars link
NME 9/10[6]
The Boston Phoenix 2/5 stars link
PopMatters 6/10 stars[7]
Q 4/5 stars (#243, Oct. 2006, p. 116)
Rolling Stone 1/5 stars[8]

Empire received positive reviews but music critics were divided by the band's choices in production and lyricism, despite being better than their self-titled debut. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 65, based on 20 reviews.[2]

Dan Martin of NME found the album better than their self-titled debut, praising the band for mixing all their influences into tracks that can be called their own, saying that "Through sheer, bloody-minded relief, weapons-graded stamina and a big, big imagination, Kasabian have willed themselves into brilliance."[6] Jason MacNeil of PopMatters found some production choices on the tracks oft-putting but said that the album shows the band's potential of crafting better projects in their given ilk, concluding that "On the whole, it’s a good second step, but hopefully step three is more in line with the shock and awe the first album contained."[7] Chris Salmon of The Guardian noted that Kasabian's boastful talk of the album resulted in a mixed bag of tracks that fall just shy of their claim, in terms of influenced production and lyricism, saying that "While Empire isn't an exceptional record, it offers enough to be described as a good one."[5]

AllMusic's David Jeffries commended the band for taking a grand-scale approach to mixing their influences into an Oasis-sized project, but felt they forgot to write catchy tracks to lead the album, saying that, "Lost in all this is the instantly grabbing songwriting of Kasabian's debut, and to some extent, the bandmembers themselves, who often seem to be riding this swirl instead of guiding it."[3] Despite praising a few tracks, Lauren Murphy of Entertainment.ie felt the album was just a retread of their debut with Tom Meighan's vocals starting to sound strained throughout, concluding with, "If Kasabian hadn't attempted to build their Empire by recounting its wonderment prematurely, it might have stood a chance; instead, their audacity just proves them to be, unsurprisingly, more geezer, less Caesar."[4] Peter Relic of Rolling Stone criticized the album for sounding like a rehash of established British rock bands and Meighan for having weak vocal delivery on the tracks, calling it "miles worse than their shallow but tasty first, its big-budget production only making its shortcomings more apparent."[8]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Sergio Pizzorno, except where noted. 

No. Title Length
1. "Empire" (Pizzorno, Christopher Karloff) 3:53
2. "Shoot the Runner"   3:27
3. "Last Trip (In Flight)"   2:53
4. "Me Plus One"   2:28
5. "Sun Rise Light Flies"   4:08
6. "Apnoea"   1:48
7. "By My Side" (Pizzorno, Karloff) 4:14
8. "Stuntman" (Pizzorno, Karloff) 5:19
9. "Seek & Destroy"   2:15
10. "British Legion"   3:19
11. "The Doberman"   5:34

Personnel

Charts and certifications

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Kasabian – Empire". Hung Medien.
  12. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Kasabian – Empire". Hung Medien.
  13. ↑ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 35, 2006". Chart-Track. IRMA.
  14. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Kasabian – Empire". Hung Medien.
  15. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Kasabian – Empire". Hung Medien.
  16. ↑ "Kasabian | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart
  17. ↑ "Kasabian – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Kasabian. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Enter Empire in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Platinum in the field By Award. Click Search
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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