Empire is the second album by British indie rock

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 band Kasabian, released in August 2006. The album went onto #1 in the UK Albums Chart

UK Albums Chart

The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

 upon its release and was preceded by the release of new single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 "Empire" on 24 July 2006.

The album was recorded over two weeks after touring with Oasis

Oasis (band)

Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...

. According to Tom Meighan

Tom Meighan

Thomas Peter Meighan is an English musician, best known as the lead vocalist for Indie Rock band Kasabian.-Career:Meighan has been the lead vocalist of Kasabian since the band's inception in Leicester in 1999...

 in an interview on the album with the NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

in early 2006, "Empire" is a word used by the band to describe something that is good. To date the album has sold over 1 million copies worldwide, including more than 600,000 in the UK.

Track listing

All tracks written by Sergio Pizzorno

Sergio Pizzorno

Sergio Lorenzo "Serge" Pizzorno is a British guitarist and songwriter, best known for his work with the indie rock band Kasabian. He became Kasabian's lead song-writer after the departure of Christopher Karloff....

, except where noted.

1. "Empire" (Pizzorno, Karloff) – 3:53
2. "Shoot the Runner
   Shoot the Runner
   "Shoot the Runner" is a song by English indie rock band Kasabian and is the second track on their second album, Empire. It was released 6 November 2006 as the second single from that album in the United Kingdom, peaking at #17 in the UK Singles Chart...
   
   " – 3:27
3. "Last Trip (In Flight)" – 2:53
4. "Me Plus One
   Me Plus One
   "Me Plus One" is a song by English rock band Kasabian and is the fourth track on their second album, Empire. The song was released on 29 January 2007 as the third single from that album in the United Kingdom, placing at #22 in the UK Singles Chart a week later .-Track listings:*2-track CD...
   
   " – 2:28
5. "Sun Rise Light Flies" – 4:08
6. "Apnoea" – 1:48
7. "By My Side" (Pizzorno, Karloff) – 4:14
8. "Stuntman" (Pizzorno, Karloff) – 5:19
9. "Seek & Destroy" – 2:15
10. "British Legion" – 3:19
11. "The Doberman" – 5:34

Personnel

• Tom Meighan
  Tom Meighan
  Thomas Peter Meighan is an English musician, best known as the lead vocalist for Indie Rock band Kasabian.-Career:Meighan has been the lead vocalist of Kasabian since the band's inception in Leicester in 1999...
  
   – lead vocals (all tracks except "Me Plus One", "Stuntman", and "British Legion")
• Sergio Pizzorno
  Sergio Pizzorno
  Sergio Lorenzo "Serge" Pizzorno is a British guitarist and songwriter, best known for his work with the indie rock band Kasabian. He became Kasabian's lead song-writer after the departure of Christopher Karloff....
  
   – lead guitar, backing vocals, synths, rhythm guitar (on "Empire", "By My Side" and "Stuntman"), lead vocals (on "Me Plus One", "Stuntman", and "British Legion")
• Chris Edwards
  Chris Edwards (musician)
  Christopher "Dibs" David Edwards is an English musician, best known as the bassist for indie rock band Kasabian.-Biography:...
  
   – bass
• Chris Karloff – lead guitar, keyboards, omnichord, synths (on "Empire", "By My Side" and "Stuntman")
• Ian Matthews
  Ian Matthews (drummer)
  Ian Matthews is an English musician, best known as a drummer for Kasabian.Prior to Kasabian he played with a number of local Bristol bands, such as K'Passa, and Milk. He met Kasabian when they were recording their first single "Processed Beats" in Bristol...
  
   – drums
• Jay Mehler
  Jay Mehler
  Jason "Jay" Mehler is a guitarist who is currently a member of Kasabian, having officially joined the band in 2010 after touring with them since 2006...
  
   – rhythm guitar (all tracks except "Empire", "By My Side" and "Stuntman")

Chart performance

Charts (2006)	Peak position
UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...	1
Australian ARIA Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...	64
French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry...	56
Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically...	3
Japan Albums Chart Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...	8
New Zealand Albums Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...	19
Swiss Albums Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75...	47
Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	114

External links

• Kasabian: Empire (2006): Reviews at Metacritic
  Metacritic
  Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
  
  
• Official website
• BMG site – Kasabian (Japan)
• BMG site – Empire (Australia)