Ian Watkins - Vocals
Lee Gaze - Lead Guitar
Mike Lewis - Rhythm Guitar
Stuart Richardson - Bass
Jamie Oliver - Keyboards/Turntables
Mike Chiplin - Drums
Lostprophets were one of the most successful bands to emerge from the Wales music scene, and one of the current hottest hard rock bands from the UK. Originally known as Lozt Prophetz, their original style of music was a slight mixture of hip hop and ska. However, as the band developed, they decided to shift musical direction. The band began pursuing a direction more oriented towards some loud, heavy rock with influences from metal and pop. The Fake Sound of Progress was originally released as a simple demo, before being picked up by guess who?, Visible Noise and Columbia Records. Following their success, they were able to pick up slots in the 2002 Ozzfest Main Stage.
I initially had first purchased Liberation Transmission, since at that time, I really liked listening to new alt metal bands that I haven't heard of before. After hearing "Rooftops", I may have gotten the wrong impression of the album. After hearing it, I realized that it wasn't completely bad, but couldn't only be very loosely be described as alternative metal. However, then I heard that Lostprophets' old stuff was a lot heavier, so I decided to give it a listen.
Alright, one of the first things you have to be careful with is the first listen. There are many people who listen to an album once, then from that point, decide whether or not to like it. If that's the case, then those people are not going to even listen pass "Shinobi Vs. Dragon Ninja."
Now, here are my individual song reviews:
1. Shinobi Vs. Dragon Ninja
Alright, like I said before, this song doesn't stand out. The melody isn't really that great, and if it wasn't for the great guitar riffs and chords, this song wouldn't be that good. The vocals aren't so impressive , but the instrumentals are great. It's like the type of song that you force yourself to like so that you wouldn't feel guity about wasting money (unless you torrented this album, ripped it from a friend, or got it off of Limewire)
Rating: 6.5/10
2. The Fake Sound Of Progress
The Fake Sound of Progress is a better song than the first. The chorus has a slightly magnified feeling, with a nice explosion of sound. The transition between the first verse into the chorus is pretty nice, and basically this song is constantly shifting between heavy and soft, which isn't anything unsual. However, it's the overall quality of the songwriting and melody that makes this a great listen.
Rating: 9/10
3. Five Is A Four Letter Word
A pretty energetic song. Five Is A Four Letter is one of the songs in which the scratching can be heard more easily. This song has an aggressive sound in the chorous, as shown in the muffled scream/singing alternation. It's done quite nicely, before the vocals burst into a nice, tuneful, finishing touch to the chorus. This song is both heavy and melodic.
Rating: 9/10
4. ...And She Told Me To Leave
By far one of the most welldone tracks on the entire album. Sure, it's not the heaviest, but heaviness doesn't mean that a music is good. ...And She Told Me To Leave demonstrates the best songwriting this album has shown. Though the guitar and bass aren't really out of the ordinary, the vocals are. The drums just hang in there pretty steadily, but the vocals are by far the best in this song. The lyrics to the song just flows on and on, before making slight stops in the chorus to allow the guitars a breath of air, before heading back into the song.
Rating: 9.5/10
5. Kobrakai
The guitar is great in this song. The opening guitar riffs are extremely melodic, catchy, and just, great, There's no other way to put this, this song ROCKS! Lee's opening guitar riffs soon being joined by Mike's powerchords. And the vocals are excellent. The vocals keep a great melody going on throughout the entire song. The chorus is one of the best choruses on this album. It's obvious that Jamie is giving aid to Ian. With first some hardcore-sounding screams, before going into Ian's singing, before alternating back into chants of "I got it, I got it, I got it" before Ian takes the floor again. And let's not forget the keys. The keys are pronounced more in this song, as you can hear them playing through the verses. A masterpiece.
Rating: 10/10
6. The Handsome Life of Swing
Alright, if you're used to their Liberation Transmission, this song will come as a shock to you. I'm not a big fan of using the term "hardcore", but if they ever had a hardcore song, it'd probably be this one (or "We Are Godzilla You Are Japan" but that's only on the UK edition of Start Something). Ian's voice isn't a growling voice, so the scream's are more high pitched, kind of similar to 3 Inches of Blood's new stuff, though this song is older. The opening riffs nice metal riffs, and if you want a good comparison, they sound like the opening metal riffs of "BYOB" by System Of A Down, but once again, this song is older. Overall, though it's less melodic than the rest of the songs, the rhythm found in the vocal section more than makes up for it, and this song is one of the more punk influenced songs on the album.
Rating: 9/10
7. A Thousand Apologies
This song starts out heavy, and is overall, heavy. It's also one of the songs with the more apparent scratching. It's a fairly more fast-paced and just....loose and sort of fun song. There's really not much to describe this song, other than this song rocks! Like all the other songs, it doesn't sound too much like anything else.
Rating: 9/10
8. Still Laughing
This song is easily the softest song on the entire album, not that that's a bad thing. It follows a little bit in the footsteps of "...And She Told Me To Leave", but there's not a whole ton of similarity going on. This song is more of a post-hardcore song than hard rock, since it contains most of its elements. Still, a great listen, but not the type of song that'll immediately attract your interest.
Rating: 8/10
9. For Sure
This song is one of my favorites. The guitar is sweet and melodic, and the song focuses heavily on Ian's vocals. The chorus is reminiscent of Taking Back Sunday, but that's the only bad part, since the chorus is still a tuneful, well done, and polished chorus. Overall, this song sounds like a modern, actually skilled, post-hardcore band covering a heavy metal song, but adding in their own touches and softening up the song a little.
Rating: 10/10
10. Awkward
Somehow, whenever I hear this song, I think of jump ropes. The drumming's probably the best part of this album, how the drummer can keep up that slightly complicated the rhythm the entire time. It's a song that toys with some electronic effects, and is more of an experiment than an acutal song. The song builds slightly in the mood of "A Thousand Apologies", how the verses will build up to a heavy chorus. However, I'm not sure what to call this chorus, an almost vocalless chorus?
Rating: 7/10
11. Ode To Summer
A nice finishing touch to a great album. The lyrics are something that just about everyone can relate to. Who can forget the last day of summer? When we're all hating the next day too much to enjoy the last day of summer. Then when school comes, we're all struggling to stay awake while listening to a monotonous drone of teachers. Overall, this song is a well-polished song, with a nice alternation and balance of power chords and swinging (yes, odd thing to say).
Rating: 9/10
To wrap it up, The Fake Sound Of Progress is a great album. It's well-polished, shows some outstanding songwriting behind it, and is a great listen. It shows just what these guys from Wales are capable of. It's one of the albums that recaptures their past before their future albums.
