This is one of those finely-polished discs that should have no trouble finding a huge audience, though it's nice to give the band a boost anyway, simply because they deserve it. Lostprophets are a Welsh-born metal band that deserve better than to be ghettoized with such a polarizing classification. They're as much metal as any Ozzfest band is these days, with a heavy hip-hop influence and an ear for quality songwriting. This is one of the breeziest, catchiest discs I've heard in a while; its only flaw is that I'm bound to see a scenester in a Lostprophets hoodie before I'm even done typing this, so poised are they for Next Big Thing status.
I enjoyed the snatches I heard from their previous disc, thefakesoundofprogress, but here the band sounds more coherent and mature -- which is not to say mellow. Vocalist Ian Watkins tears the place apart with passion instead of posture, and the five-man band behind him brings up the rear in roaring fashion. The first five tracks all sound like potential hit singles (and one of them, "Last Train Home", was a hit from their last disc, rejiggered here), full of credible switches, swerves and the ubiquitous hooks that demand to be blasted from car windows all summer long. Sure, they veer into legitimate metal territory from time to time, but they just as easily crib from nearly every pop touchstone of the past twenty years and pump some fresh blood into the post-Creed and Puddle of Mudd set. I'm sure Sony and Columbia will do all they can to plow Start Something down our throats over the next few months, but at least you can rest easy knowing that the album is worth it.
