West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

Kasabian are the great heretics of British rock; 21st century renegades with a romantic's heart, a poet's lust for life and a lysergic vision to sear the eyeballs of anyone who would want them. Two years in the making, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum is the sound of a band at the peak of their powers. A fifty-two minute mash up of sky-scraping melodies, electric-punk riffs, Morricone-esque symphonics, Mariachi stomps and psych-pop lullabies, it is both a stadium sized declaration of intent and a bar-raising benchmark of rock music in 2009. Even better, it also flies in the face of disposable pop culture.