CD Review: Lostprophets - Weapons

Written by Christopher Nosnibor Thursday, 24 May 2012 08:50

Artist: Lostprophets
Title: Weapons
Genre: Rock
Release Date: 30th March 2012
Label: Sony Music

Album Review

I’ve long had issues with LOSTPROPHETS and their stadium-friendly anthemic rock. They seemed to emerge at a time when the force of Nu-Metal was dissipating rapidly, paving the way for softer, more melodic guitar-based bands who presented themselves as being rebellious, but were in fact no more of a threat to the establishment than the VO5 styling products they consumed by the truckload. Then there was ‘Rooftops’. Ostensibly a clarion call bursting with positive energy to unite the youth, it was depressingly devoid of real content.

The opening track on ‘Weapons’, ‘Bring ‘Em Down’ starts off promisingly enough with some beefy guitars that, welded to some fiery percussion and a throbbing bass, actually sound rather threatening – but then the refrain of ‘sing it out’ comes on and we’re back in stadium rock territory. ‘We Bring An Arsenal’ is just dire, it’s punky sneer completely undermined by its “weyo-weyo la-la-la-la” football terrace chant chorus. It’s been done to death already, and wasn’t cool in the first place. Likewise the quiet / loud dynamics of ‘Another Shot’ with its synth augmentation that comes on like early LINKIN PARK fails to convince in its emotional sincerity.

I’m not suggesting that anger, frustration, disillusionment, alienation, can’t be presented in an accessible form or that a hook-bearing chorus diminishes the power of a song’s sentiment – far from it – but this feels just so contrived, and the polished, slick delivery simply doesn’t correspond with the sentiments implicit in the titles or presentation (the cover art bears the legend ‘Deus Velox Nex’, which translates as ‘God’s Swift (violent) Death’ and appears in the Nicholas Cage film ‘Drive Angry’).

‘Weapons’ isn’t the sound of a band who are angry, pissed off or even just a bit fed up, though, but the sound of a band who have settled into a comfortable groove of pedalling manufactured angst to the masses. Put simply, ‘Weapons’ lacks real firepower.


Tracklist

01. Bring 'Em Down
02. We Bring An Arsenal
03. Another Shot
04. Jesus Walks
05. A Song for Where I'm From
06. A Little Reminder That I'll Never Forget
07. Better Off Dead
08. Heart on Loan
09. Somedays
10. Can't Get Enough


Line-up

Ian Watkins – vocals
Jamie Oliver - keyboards, turntables, vocals
Stuart Richardson – bass
Mike Lewis – guitars
Lee Gaze – guitars
Luke Johnson – drums


Website

http://lostprophets.com/


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 5
Sound: 3
Total: 4 / 10


Buy the album here!