Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last few months, you will no doubt be aware of the massive rock behemoth that is Kasabian’s latest album, the awesomely titled fourth album Velociraptor!*.

The Leicester quintet (Tom Meighan, Sergio Pizzorno, Chris Edwards, Ian Matthews, Jay Mehler) have fashioned themselves as the prime exponents of modern classic rock, in the vein of The Rolling Stones and Oasis, with some side diversions into their old Primal Scream/Happy Mondays/Stone Roses territory. Mullets ahoy!

After the success of 2009′s West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, they’ve gone for the big time with Velociraptor!. They’ve certainly jumped aboard the endorsement train for Velociraptor! in a big, rock-superstar kind of way – the slick marketing campaign stuffed full of strategic placements that has accompanied Velociraptor! (gigs held in a Boeing 747, closing the Formula One season, collaborating on a FIFA video game, etc etc) makes it blatantly clear that Columbia wants Velociraptor! to do big business. I guess they gotta make money while the sun shines, so who can blame them. Planes, fast cars, football – it says it all :)

All that blockbuster marketing could, however, make you forget that  Kasabian are an awesome live band, and might possibly even live up to the rockstar hype they’ve been putting out there. Well, I guess we’ll see, when Kasabian play in Zurich at the Maag Halle next February.

I was going to add the latest video (for ‘Re-wired’) but it was a blatant advertisement for Mercedes Benz, so instead here is the vid for ‘Switchblade Smiles’, the first single from Velociraptor!:

Kasabian play @ Maag Halle, ZH, 27.02.12. Tickets on sale now here. Doors open at 18:30, concert begins at 20:00.

Velociraptor! is out now on Columbia.

* When my son was going through his dinosaur phase I always thought ‘velociraptor’ was the coolest dinosaur name. Beats ‘Maiasaurus’!