Kasabian release «Act III», their ninth studio album. Ten songs and three interludes between rock-rap, electronic and psychedelia, with the production of Serge Pizzorno and Mark Ralph.
KASABIAN_ACTIII_artwork-album-2026.
My relationship with Kasabian has always been up and down. An intense love at the beginning, a slow cooling down over the years, until the total indifference that «Happenings» left on me two years ago.
Yet «Act III», the ninth album of his career, already intrigued me from the orchestral intro of “Quiet on Set Please”, forty-five seconds of introduction.
The album was recorded at The Sergery and Club Ralph, produced by Serge Pizzorno together with Mark Ralph, and once again bears the frontman’s veiled and highly recognizable voice as its trademark. The official narrative wants it to be the third act of a trilogy that began with «The Alchemist’s Euphoria» in 2022 and continued with «Happenings» in 2024, the path in which Pizzorno transforms the impostor syndrome into stage energy and direct writing.
It is the highest point not only of the six years in which Serge leads the band alone: he looks forward without denying the sonic violence of the beginning.
We start with Soulmate, hybrid between rock and rap in which Pizzorno’s voice always remains at the center of the scene. Then Hippie Sunshinesunny and psychedelic, and Superpowers, with those R&B veins that wink at Gorillaz: a double already released and already consumed in recent months. Just like Great Pretender, ieuphoric year that still works, and Nothing Better Than This, the most recent single, written specifically to make those who listen to it dance live.
But there are real surprises afterwards too. Silver Apple Eyes takes me straight back to Empire of the Sun We Are the People. The Guru and the Crypto Time Machine it has a cinematic aftertaste that the title, for once, does not betray. Glide it starts acoustically but then builds an electronic sound that revolves around drum and bass drums and an almost house-like piano, the most interesting production choice on the album. Hyper//Rising returns to the rough rock of younger Kasabian, but remains harmless, an exercise in style without bite. The closure of SAY YOU (CLOSER) it’s almost a Beatles-esque chorale, it closes the circle with a tone that the rest of the album hadn’t yet shown.
Ten songs for just over half an hour, three interludes, a pop of psychedelic guitars and electronics that marks a new maturity. «Act III» must be listened to from beginning to end, including interludes: it is the declared choice of whoever wrote it, and for once the sequence holds up to what it promises.
In the end my relationship with Kasabian remains what it has always been, a continuous oscillation. «Act III» is a record that I still struggle to pigeonhole in my sound archive. But it’s impossible to ignore.
TO LISTEN NOW
Soulmate – SUPERPOWERS – Glide
TO BE SKIPPED IMMEDIATELY
Half an hour passes quickly.
SCORE: Score 7.00
TRACKLIST
- quiet on set please 1m9
- SOULMATE
- Hippie Sunshine
- SUPERPOWERS
- GREAT PRETENDER
- NOTHING BETTER THAN THIS
- mind palace 2m7
- SILVER APPLE EYES
- THE GURU AND THE CRYPTO TIME MACHINE
- npc 3m12
- GLIDE
- HYPER//RISING
- SAY YOU (CLOSER)
DISCOGRAPHY
2004 – Kasabian
2006 – Empire
2009 – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
2011 – Velociraptor!
2014 – 48:13
2017 – For Crying Out Loud
2022 – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
2024 – Happenings
2026 – Act III
THE VIDEOS
WEB & SOCIAL
https://www.facebook.com/kasabian
https://www.instagram.com/kasabianofficial/
