Lost Prophets - Liberation Transmission Album Review

Lostprophets
Liberation Transmission,
Album Review

Don't you just wanna hate Lostprophets, huh?

Those five Welsh pretty boy, television presenter shagging, purveyors of classic, radio-friendly rock that anyone from 16 to 60 can find some appeal with.

Admit it, you do, and yet, thanks to that old dear pal conscience, you know that in your heart of hearts you just can't bring yourself to actually do it.

Because for all the bluster – and 'Liberation Transmission' has it by the bucket load – faux pas sentimentality and high pitched screams that perpetuate their entire repertoire, Lostprophets still stand proud as quite possibly the best pop/metal act that us Brits can call our own, so for that we should be grateful.

Sure enough, their songs border on the verge of complete irritation – but then again what decent pop song doesn't? – and there's only so many anthemic verse-chorus-verse-chorus formulae that the body can digest in one sitting, but lack of variation aside, these guys have pretty much mastered the art of creating radio friendly rock tunes that sit as comfortably in the office during Wednesday morning's tea break as they do in-between Slayer and Trivium sets at the Download Festival.

So what is their appeal? Well, much has been made of their poster friendly image, particularly singer Ian Watkins and sampling guru Jamie Oliver, but to be fair, when one of their big (and when I say big, I mean HUGE) full-on anthems starts blearing out the radio you can't see their faces, right. And that's the whole point really, because despite every effort made by both their disciples and detractors in the glossies to accentuate the fact they could be – shock! horror! - a manufactured boy band because they don't look like five builders from Bromley, the band themselves have just ignored the hype (tripe?), got their heads down and carried on creating the kind of anthems that so many of the now defunct nu metal class of 2001 could only have dreamt of.

'Liberation Transmission' then is album number three, but anyone expecting a vast departure from his or her previous works clearly hasn't been paying attention. After all, why fix something that isn't broken? So what you have here then is basically twelve potential singles that can be broken down into two categories. First there's the fast and furious singalongs ('Everyday Combat', 'A Town Called Hypocrisy' and 'Can't Catch Tomorrow' being the pick of the bunch). Secondly there's the occasionally overwrought but more often than not nail-hitting-head ballads, of which recent single 'Rooftops' and '4am Forever' take the first and second prizes respectively.

While 'Liberation Transmission' won't tell you anything you didn't already know about Lostprophets, it will also allay any of the doubters about their current status as Europe's number one rock band. And they even score a bonus point or two for the ad-lib of Grace's old school rave classic 'Not Over Yet' into the outro of 'Everybody's Screaming'. Good on 'em.

7/10
Dom Gourlay

Label: Visible Noise