Kasabian Rise From The Ashes With Blistering New Single 'ALYGATYR'

Perennial indie favourites and festival headliners Kasabian became embroiled in controversy in the summer of last year, resulting in the removal of frontman and founding member Tom Meighan. Many loyal fans of the Leicester rockers voiced doubts over whether the band and its music would feel the same again in his absence, whether it be fronted by creative leader, songwriter, and guitarist Serge Pizzorno or a completely new member. 

However, if their blistering performances on their recent Serge-fronted UK tour didn’t sway them, their first post-Tom single ‘ALYGATYR’ certainly should.  

One noticeable aspect of this latest offering is just how much creative control Serge had throughout the band’s previous 20 years. Kasabian’s characteristic swaggering riffs, anthemic choruses, and lyrics that seem to be written for their rhythm rather than their meaning are still ever-present. The opening “Get paid, roll like an alligator / Too hot to touch like a radiator” is very much reminiscent of the previous album’s ‘Comeback Kid’ and its semi-nonsensical lyrics, seeming to prove Serge and the new line-up’s detractors wrong about Kasabian losing their identity without Tom. 

  

Of course, a line-up change is always going to necessitate at least some sort of artistic sway in direction. Serge’s hip-hop and dance influences present in some of Kasabian’s preceding work and his solo project The S.L.P. are more noticeable here than before. The constant “ooh-ooh-ooh’s” throughout the track bring these influences right to the forefront, whilst the pre-chorus and post-chorus sections sound like they’re being blasted from a murky nightclub with their high levels of distortion and use of filters. 

  

Perhaps most telling about the band’s mindset and their current situation is the lyrics found in the chorus. The second phrase’s “See, you better rise from the ashes / Don't you wanna try just a little, will ya? / Try just a little, will ya?” could easily be interpreted as a call-out to those fans that were very vocal in voicing their concerns about Kasabian post-Tom. It’s almost as if Serge is imploring them to give this new incarnation of the much-loved band a chance after they rise from the ashes of their controversy. Yet rise they do, with ‘ALYGATYR’s mix of familiar Kasabian eclectic rock ‘n’ roll and its further forays into the worlds of dance and hip-hop encouraged by Serge as frontman – all-in-all signalling an extremely promising outlook for the Leicester group.  

David Harrold 

https://linktr.ee/davidh214 

Image: ‘ALYGATYR’ Official Single Cover