Lostprophets : Start Something
Here, friends, is the real sound of progress...
All told, it can’t have been the easiest couple of years for Lostprophets. Seeing as the pop totems of nu-metal and boy band pop have crumbled since they emerged; the band who, however unfairly, were tagged as the nu-metal boyband should have been left in quite a pickle. Yet, as 'Start Something' proves from its opening roars, there was always more to the boys of Pontypridd than that. Even if singer Ian Watkins did share a name with H from Steps.
2001’s debut 'The Fake Sound Of Progress' might have thrust them into the spotlight, but it was a classic example of the wave being bigger than you banked on when picking your surfboard. Recorded for nuts and released on indie label Visible Noise, they were thrust forward by nu-metal’s backdraft. But even then you got the sense that they were vaguely embarrassed by it. And where their peers at the time were little better than the indie bedwetters they sought to be harder than, the 'Prophets always had their phasers set to destroy. So it’s with all of that in mind that 'Start Something' opens with the mouthwatering 'We Still Kill The Old Way'. Much as little has been left to chance - its heavy weapons have been buffed up with some damn expensive polish - it’s never at the expense of soul. And there’s thought gone in too. It’s still metal, but wonder at how the single 'Burn Burn' gleams more with the spirit of glam than downtuned riff rock. And marvel at how 'Goodbye Tonight' sees them take their feet off the pedals and not fall into the trap of shit metal ballad. Rock!
The problem with nu-metal, after all, was its utter lack of any real progression. Metal boyband? However much time and money’s spent on their hair can't take away from the fact that Lostprophets have, against the odds, carved something genuinely fresh. Not many bands can carry off Ash’s heroic popness with the experimental edges of your Biffys and Kill Kenedas. Here, friends, is the real sound of progress.
Dan Martin
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2001’s debut 'The Fake Sound Of Progress' might have thrust them into the spotlight, but it was a classic example of the wave being bigger than you banked on when picking your surfboard. Recorded for nuts and released on indie label Visible Noise, they were thrust forward by nu-metal’s backdraft. But even then you got the sense that they were vaguely embarrassed by it. And where their peers at the time were little better than the indie bedwetters they sought to be harder than, the 'Prophets always had their phasers set to destroy. So it’s with all of that in mind that 'Start Something' opens with the mouthwatering 'We Still Kill The Old Way'. Much as little has been left to chance - its heavy weapons have been buffed up with some damn expensive polish - it’s never at the expense of soul. And there’s thought gone in too. It’s still metal, but wonder at how the single 'Burn Burn' gleams more with the spirit of glam than downtuned riff rock. And marvel at how 'Goodbye Tonight' sees them take their feet off the pedals and not fall into the trap of shit metal ballad. Rock!
The problem with nu-metal, after all, was its utter lack of any real progression. Metal boyband? However much time and money’s spent on their hair can't take away from the fact that Lostprophets have, against the odds, carved something genuinely fresh. Not many bands can carry off Ash’s heroic popness with the experimental edges of your Biffys and Kill Kenedas. Here, friends, is the real sound of progress.
Dan Martin
[/url]Get 'Start Something' at the NME Shop
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