idontlikeputtingspaces intitles (Fake Sound Of Progress - Lostprophets)

Member Name: yhwman

Product:	Fake Sound Of Progress - Lostprophets
Date:	18/07/01 (109 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some good new music

Disadvantages: Some a bit less good, the way they never put spaces in titles

On the first night (Or at least first night for a very long time) I listened to the Radio One rock show I heard Linkin Park, Boy Hits Car and Lostprophets. Having been given an mp3 of a Sunna song earlier the same day and as someone who counts finding new music as one of their hobbies, I’d have to say that was a pretty successful day. The Sunna album was spectacular, what I’ve heard of the Boy Hits Car album bodes very well and Linkin Park were – well, um, not quiet as good as the others. But what about Welsh wonders Lostprophets?

The Lostprophets approach to music is to take a big ole slab of hard rock and liberally spread on some hardcore metal, hip hop, drum and bass and top off with a strong sense off melody and quirkiness. They only really remind me of one band and that’s the rather bonkers world of Tubring (Who? Maybe I’ll actually buy one of their CD’s one of these days and review it :P) – the vocalists are certainly similar. But while Tubring set out to bend your ears with songs like “God Hates Astronauts” and “Bite the Wax Tadpole”, Lostprophets concentrate more on the rock element and less on just being bizarre, much less in fact.


* obscureintro *

The sounds of an underwater computer game for 25 seconds. And that’s it. Hmmm


* shinobivsdragonninja *

Now this is more like it. Stomping rock beats in the chorus, funky chugfests in the first half of the verse and lilting melodies in the second. After a brief quite intro the song breaks straight in in an attempt to rip your head off and metaphorically do the business down your neck and then before you’ve had chance to recover from that the song tightens up for the chugging guitars section and just when that’s comfortable once again the mood changes to the melodic section. The sheer scope and pace of this song is breath taking, great stuff!


* thefakesoundofprogre
ss *

This was the first Lostprophets song I heard, although I’m not sure it was the full six minute version but then considering some of the stuff Mary-Anne Hobbs plays anything is possible! Opening with a few gentle guitar harmonics and the lines “Somebody told me that I always have to bow, if that was true I would have fallen apart by now” before it explodes into a crushing guitar section. Similar to shinobivsdragonninja in that it mixes lots of different sections with different feels and tempos it’s another quality song. Oh, and if you’re wondering just what the fake sound of progress does sound like, it sounds like “da da da da da da”.


(Interlude)


* fiveisafourletterword *

One of the heavier tracks on the album, angsty vocals meet with shouting, guitars and decks. You could imagine Linkin Park doing a track a bit like this. It’s a bit boring compared to the unique sounds of shinobivsdragonninja and thefakesoundofprogress, it’s a more straight forward rock tune.


* andshetoldmetoleave *

Mixing a rock ballad with a sort of drum and bass, feel the start of the song is pretty unique. The song then moves off into a more standard rock tune but the mix of styles keeps the song quite interesting, although like fiveisafourletterword it’s not up to the standards of the first two tracks.


(Interlude)


* kobrakai *

Pounding rhythm guitars and screaming lead guitars start the song off, before once again the messed up drum and bass feel returns along with some angsty vocal not-quite-harmonies provides a quiet section of the song. Then all hell brakes loose as the guitars come back with a vengance along with some oh-so-shouty vocal moments mixed with some more melodic vocal work. The ending though is very strange, muted strings and a looped drum beat for a minute as it slowly fades out. Pretty good but STILL not bett
er than the first two tracks!


* thehandsomelifeofswing *

Short and very, very strange!

(Interlude)


* athousandapologies *

More crushing guitars, a few touches of jangle in the background and some “wicky wicky” turntable work in the background, huge layers of vocals and plenty of changes of urgency as the guitars crash around the mix. Then at the end the world falls out of the song as it turns into a huge sprawling shouty descending mess. Quite an effective mess mind.


* stilllaughing *

A slow start with a phased clean guitar and a wandering bass line for one of the better tracks on the album. It’s a ballad that slowly builds, starting off with gentle guitar and vocal work and slowly morphs into a more rocky track with a slightly funky feel. Completely different to the first two tracks but equally as brilliant!


(Interlude)


* forsure *

Lostprophets go all lo-fi on this short little ballad. Twangy wah wah guitars, strings and vocals with that poorly recorded lo-fi sound make for 1:13 of good song. Shame they didn’t do more with it really.


* odetosummer *

Once again, Lostprophets mix together a whole bunch of sounds and tempos in the final song on the album. Rap, “wicky wicky” decks rock all mix in a song that has a similar lyrical idea to David’s Last Summer by Pulp. About how great summers were when they were a big break from school compared to how great they aren’t ‘now’. Pretty good song to finish on.


Well, I really, really wanted to love this album – probably because out of the three really great tracks on the album, the first two Lostprophet songs I heard were thefakesoundofprogress and shinobivsdragonninja so the albums been a bit of a disappointment. It doesn’t quite deserve four stars, but it deserves four more than three! Although I may keep
coming back and changing that.


* Couple of good Lostprophets websites *

http://lostprophets.cjb.net/
http://www.dragonninja.f2s.com/index2.htm

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