Velociraptor!

iTunes Review

With Kasabian’s fourth studio album, the Leicestershire quintet takes sound advice from Marc Bolan: Velociraptor! opens with the banging of a gong. From there, Spanish horns invoke romantic matador imagery before morphing into an Eastern-tinged verse. The chorus of “Let’s Roll Just Like We Used To” is a post-Oasis Britpop anthem replete with singer Tom Meighan’s Liam Gallagher-inspired inflections. The standout second song, “Days Are Forgotten,” shows how the band reworks the Britpop blueprint with its own ideas. Here it injects the baggy beats of early-‘90s Madchester with a harder-driving rhythm and unpredictable melodies that get more infectious with repeated listens. Some White Stripes adoration surfaces in the chorus of “Re-wired,” but the band’s labyrinthine lead-up to the refrain reveals a healthy balance of originality and hero worship. Similarly, the beat-dappled title track spotlights the group’s love for The Chemical Brothers, but the quirky whimsy overflowing from the chorus is 100 percent Kasabian.