Weapon by Lostprophets

Review by Huan Xie

© Epic Records

When I found out that I would be taking over from George this week I was quite excited to review Lostprophets’ album, Weapons. Unfortunately, it was a little disappointing, although there are glimpses of excellence, they weren’t frequent enough. After listening to their older songs, the songs they produced, I found that these new songs lacked inspiration, they don't make me want get up and rock out and I think they will struggle to get the crowd going at summer festivals with these songs …

The First Track, Bring ‘em Down, has a strong and fast paced beat, that will get your head bobbing, but it is repetitive and I found myself losing focus and ultimately I got a little bored! Much of the album is like this, heavily distorted power chords ringing in each verse with the occasional good breakdown (which is featured in Better of dead, Bring ‘em down). Also, in some songs ( Jesus walks and A little reminder that’ll never forget you), the guitarists’ sounds are toned down and they play more sensitive licks that accompany the vocals very well, but it is definitive of the modern mainstream sound.

The strongest song in the whole album would be Better off Dead. Here, Ian Watkins gives demonstration of his rap skills, which actually made the song more lively and aggressive! It helped express the singer’s emotion and his thought on the state of the nation and gave an extra dimension to the album. I could definitely hear that this is something that Ian is trying to argue strongly about and it is reminiscent of the king of rap metal, Zack de la Rocha (vocalist to Rage against the Machine).

If you enjoy today’s mainstream sound, or maybe experience something heavier and meatier, you will have no problem enjoying this record.


Star Rating: **