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Welsh rockers Lostprophets are back with their fifth studio album 'Weapons' and while its sure to keep fans happy, there's an underwhelming whiff of the generic to the album. That's not to say it is a bad album, far from it. But by Lostprophets standards, it could have been a lot better.
Album opener 'Bring 'Em Down' is a song with its own personality. The chant like singing and drum beat, with the band members counting down in the background make it a song that would receive a good live reception. It is definitely one of the better tracks of the album, probably why it is right at the start.
'We Bring An Arsenal', the second track of the album, starts to show where the problems lie with this release. You could play the song to the most ardent of fans and tell them that it is Fall Out Boy and no one would bat an eyelid, which is a shame because it is actually a really catchy song that will have you singing it long after hearing it, much like other F.O.B songs.
'Jesus Walks' has a much more pop sound to it than the other tracks on the album with the backing contributing massively towards this with a series of 'ooos' and 'ahhs' layered behind Iain Watkins vocals.
The aptly named 'A Little Reminder That I'll Never Forget' is another one of the better songs on the album. It sounds a lot more like the tracks that feature on their earlier albums that made us fall for this band in the first place.
'Better Off Dead' shows us a little glimpse of variety that is generally lacking in the release as a whole. Iain Watkins raps for the majority of the track that leads into quite a catchy chorus. Critics have already pointed this as the stand out track of the album, which it definitely is, but this may be due to the lack of variety on the album. This is the stand out track because it sounds different from the rest of the album. The opening vocals to 'Heart On Loan' again sound like a Fall Out Boy track but is thankfully saved after the first thrash of guitars, after which the song slowly returns back to a Lostprophets number.
Fans of Twin Atlantic would feel that Lostprophets have taken some inspiration from the Scottish rock outfit when it comes to 'Somedays'. An acoustic Lostprophets track seems odd but with the drum beat it and the late introduction of electric guitars works perfectly with the vocals as Twin Atlantic themselves found with their own track 'Crash Land'.
The album as a whole is ok, but it is nothing special. Lostprophets may have opened the door to many Americanised British rock bands with their debut album 'Thefakesoundofprogress' but this latest attempt has done nothing to make it stand out from the bands they once inspired.
