The 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 doubt them.

"The third record is the one you're judged on" says Serge Pizzorno, referring to the band's extraordinary new album 'The West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum'. "It's where you've established yourself and people find out who you really are. In terms of success we've breached the walls. Now it's time to destroy the system from within."

Two years in the making, 'West Ryder' is the sound of a band at the peak of their powers. A fifty-two minute mash up of sky-scraping melodies, electro-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 for rock music in 2009. Even better, It also flies in the face of disposable pop culture.

"The album was inspired by movies like (Alejandro Jodorowksy's) Holy Mountain" says Serge. "It's the soundtrack to an imaginary movie. We want to encourage people to listen to it as whole. At the moment people are being encouraged to pay seventy nine pence to download one song, and I think that really underestimates what genuine music fans want to listen to. We wanted to make an album which takes the listener on a journey."

Opening with "Underdog", which finds Tom at full stretch, singing "I live my life on a lullaby", 'West Ryder' pulsates with ideas, energy and-crucially-cracking tunes. From the slinky techno pulse of "Swarfiga" to the Kinks-esque "Thick as Thieves", it builds to the pivotal "West Ryder Silver Bullet" a duet between Tom and Sin City actress Rosario Dawson.

"We met Rosario at the Isle of Wight when she came to see us" explains Tom. "We wanted a proper rock'n'roll duet on the record - like Lee and Nancy, Serge and Jane, so she was perfect. It's about two lovers racing towards the sunset - a total crazed acid vibe."

"Vlad the Impaler", meanwhile, is a turbo-rock anthem to top even "Empire". If haunting arabesque "Secret Alphabets" (inspired by the lyrical breakthroughs of Bob Dylan noted in Mick Farren's 'Give The Anarchist A Cigarette') is a nod to the band's interest in '60s counterculture, there's a lyrical depth at work often missed by those overwhelmed by their sonic onslaught.

"Where Did All The Love Go?" addresses the daily carnage of 'Broken' Britain in 2009 ("The rivers of the pavement are now flowing now with blood / The children of the future are drowning in the flood"); "Take Aim", meanwhile, addresses a society where the class divide is exacerbated by TV game shows ("Bribe them and give them star prizes/Lock them away in high rises").

If the overall feel is of Ray Davies' 'Village Green' paved over, sold off and replaced by a madhouse, there's also a conceptual thread linking all the songs.

"Fast Fuse" is about this wild kid who's been put into the asylum" explains Serge. "He's desperate to get out, but he doesn't know how." A final "Happiness"', however, is a strung-out serenade to the good times. "I wanted to end the album on a positive note" says Serge. "There's a lot of bad news around at the moment but we wanted to show people there is light at the end of the tunnel, you've just got to believe in yourself."

And 'The West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum' itself? "It's about people escaping somewhere else when they take drugs. It's a place of opposites-where paupers can become princes. The way things are at the moment, it seems like a good place to be."

Indeed. Just as 'Entroducing' and 'Dig Your Own Hole' - key chapters in Kasabian's history - defined the times, 'The West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum' seems destined to soundtrack the end of the decade. Let the madness begin!