48:13 starts off with "(shiva)", one of the album's tracks written in brackets, perhaps down to their short duration. After witnessing this electronic intro you'll be catapulted straight into the energetic "Bumblebee". A furious intro launches into a continuous beat with Tom Meighan ending on the lines of "When we're together I'm in ecstasy" before, once again, launching into a manic, energetic chorus.
Up next is "Stevie". This song instantly provokes thoughts of James Bond chasing villains through some exotic, urban centre. The lyrics behind this song seem to be pretty dark, however. Tom Meighan sings about a boy running to an undisclosed place to shoot someone, and tells him to take his medication.
"(mortis)" follows and this time it's easy to see why the track's title is in brackets. Just 47 seconds long and with nothing actually happening the next track "Doomsday" comes as somewhat a shock of sudden energy. Indeed Doomsday is one of my personal highlights from the album. It seems to incorporate so many aspects of Kasabian's sound throughout the years and to me is like a short version of 48:13 itself. The synth intro, the energetic chorus and the great breakdowns. It's all there. "We reach for the sky, we hold our heads high" the band claim and I feel like they are succeeding. Last year Tom Meighan claimed that if the band were on on a mountain, they'd be at the top of Mount Everest. A good place to reach for the sky then.
"Glass" takes off where tracks like "Goodbye Kiss" left off, however adding electronic focus and even spoken word by spoken word artist Suli Breaks. Sergio wanted Suli to feature on the album after seeing Breaks' "Why I Hate School But Love Education" on YouTube. If you haven't seen this spoken word track go and check it out immediately. It is fantastic! Sergio told NME: "This comes from the idea that if the people joined as a collective we could do yo much damage. It's like when they blocked the petrol stations and we didn't have petrol for three days. There's power in that." Suli just seems to be the perfect person to feature on the track.
"Explodes" starts off with electronic beats before going into a short breakdown about midway through the track. The last minute of the song really adds energy to it and expels an atmosphere out of some crazy sci-fi film, before drifting into calming electronic beats. Next up is "Levitation", a 1:19 long trip to the wild west. You'll see why yourself. It's back to the synth intro for "Clouds". The track starts off quietly before coming alive after 1:18 thanks to the introduction of drums, guitar and bass. "Where do you go when you're underneath the rainbow?", Kasabian ask the listener before later exclaiming that they rise above the clouds. Back to the trippy lyrics we know so well from them.
"Eezeh" is my personal weak point of the album. It sounds like a mixture of "Madness" and a monkey playing drums on speed. Still, it was well acclaimed by fans. The title is a reference to the Leicester accent, which Sergio Pizzorno heard was dying out.
The incredible "Bow" starts off like a ballad before heading into a energetic chorus. The songs sad feel is down to it being about "a friend splitting up from his girlfriend and you telling him it's going to be alright", according to Sergio. The song features clean guitar riffs, incredible vocals and a must-sing-along-to chorus.
The incredible journey through Kasabian's album still needs the last 4:23 to make up 48:13. And these last four and a half minutes are called "SPS". SPS stands for Scissor Paper Stone and is the most quiet, relaxing track on the album. The band announced that this was a song for "the perfect moment" and meant as "a hug at the end". The end. That's not really something you'd want to hear after listening to this masterpiece 48:13. But all good things come to an end and so does this album.
I truly believe the hype and excitement over 48:13 was worthwhile but totally disagree on the claim by Sergio Pizzorno that the album is fairly stripped down, without many layers.
Dear Kasabian, when we're together I'm in ecstasy!
Out of 10: 9/10
Written by - Benjamin Brown
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