West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum debuted at number one in the United Kingdom, giving Kasabian their second number-one album in that country, and spawned four singles: "Fire", "Where Did All the Love Go?

The song has also seen wide usage in popular culture, including a commercial for BRAVIA's television products and car racing video games Need for Speed: Shift and Asphalt 8: Airborne.

has been described as a psychedelic rock song with a prominent string section,[6] and it segues into the instrumental track "Swarfiga", which was described as krautrock[2] and named after the industrial hand cleaning product Swarfega.

[9] Opening with a spoken word sample from the 1983 film Sans Soleil, "West Ryder Silver Bullet" is a duet featuring actress Rosario Dawson, detailing "two lovers racing towards the sunset- a total crazed acid vibe."

[8] Lead single and penultimate track "Fire" combines two different, largely distinct grooves, consisting of an acoustic, "anxious, minimalist shuffle" in the verse and a "massive techno" and "dance-rock" chorus as well as Meighan's Elvis-inspired vocals.

[12] Adam Sweeting of Uncut praised the band for putting a lot more depth into their sound while delivering the songs with a dark undertone to them, calling it "A world away from their ladrock roots, you might say.

"[13] Hamish MacBain of NME praised the album's mishmash of psychedelic-infused tracks resembling that of The Rolling Stones' Their Satanic Majesties Request, calling it "a shambling, splattered, ultimately much more enduring mess that will make sense if you just hang on in there.

"[2] Andrew Leahey of AllMusic commended the band for improving on their previous effort with a psychedelic sense and horror-like atmosphere mixed with their usual dance-rock sound, calling it "an interesting, unexpected piece of work, devoid of a militantly commercial single like Empire's self-titled track, and lacking the shaggy Madchester vibes that Christopher Karloff brought to 2004's Kasabian.