Originally published by L.S. Media. July 5th 2011.

The Kaiser Chiefs can never be accused of conforming or becoming stale. After the first three albums went top ten in the British charts and even did respectively well in the American market, the Yorkshire band have released their fourth album, The Future is Medieval.

The Future Is Medieval started out as one of the most unique promotional efforts in the history of recorded music. In early June the band put out over 20 tracks on their website with the offer of downloading the songs that you wanted, to create your own perfect Kaiser Chiefs compilation of new tracks, and even in these austere times the response was outstanding. On the back of that the band released a tangible copy for their fans consisting of 13 of those tracks.

Even if the Kaiser Chiefs can’t be accused of becoming past their sell-by-date or bland, the album doesn’t reach the highs of Employment or Yours Truly, Angry Mob, with no catchy sound bites in the offering, it comes across as a grouchy, slightly bitter and despondent and yet riveting. If this album is a departure from the quality of tracks such as Spanish Metal, the excellent Ruby or Boxing Champ then the band have re-invented their sound and their outlook with remarkable ease.

With tracks such as Long Way from Celebrating, the uncompromising and downbeat Starts with Nothing and Kinda Girl You Are shows the band in an excellent if pessimistic frame of mind.

The Future is Medieval won’t be for everyone and how the uniqueness of the promotion affects overall sales of the record is something only the future itself knows but for now the album is a good addition to the bands catalogue, just don’t expect to find yourself humming any of the songs in an unguarded moment.

3 stars

Ian D. Hall