Lostprophets – The Betrayed

After a wait of three and a half years, Lostprophets is back and has released its fourth studio album ‘The Betrayed’. After the release of ‘Liberation Transmission’ in 2006 the band set to work on its fourth studio album in early 2007 with the hope of releasing a new album later that year, recording in LA didn’t quite go to plan however, and with the band unhappy with the material that had been produced, all was scrapped and it was time to start again. Heading back to Wales the band was able to get to work with a fresh head, with bassist Stuart Richardson at the recording desk to take care of the production and mixing duties with the help of Justin Hopfer. ‘The Betrayed’ is the album that Lostprophets has ultimately put together, with the band taken a heavier approach than with previous album ‘Liberation Transmission’.

‘The Betrayed’ kicks into action with ‘If It Wasn’t for Hate, We’d Be Dead by Now’, providing a quality start to the album as the powerful drumming hits you straight away followed by a brilliant dirty guitar sound. Straight away the album grabs you, with the band providing a supremely satisfying opener for the record. Flowing into ‘Dstryr/Dstryr’ the band continues to impress, and after this we’re treated to singles ‘It’s Not the End of the World, But I Can See It from Here’ and ‘Where We Belong’. ‘The Betrayed’ quickly establishes itself as a fantastic return from the band, and throughout the entirety of the album the drumming of Ilan Rubin really does impress. Sadly Ilan Rubin has moved on to join Nine Inch Nails since this album was recorded, he definitely makes a massive impression on this album though, with his incredible drumming technique always coming across to perfection throughout the album.

Aside from the questionable use of the “lalala” in ‘Streets of Nowhere’ there’s little not to like about ‘The Betrayed’, and put down on record here are eleven largely impressive rock tracks. With catchy choruses aplenty, great rock guitars, and powerful drumming throughout, ‘The Betrayed’ has everything you could possibly want from the Lostprophets, and is an album that should impress the vast majority of the bands fans. It’s not quite perfect, tracks such as ‘For He’s a Jolly Good Felon’, ‘A Better Nothing’, and ‘It’s Not the End of the World, But I Can See It from Here’ are sure to have you singing along though, and closing track ‘The Light That Shines Twice as Bright’ is an excellent one to finish with as the band winds things down with one of the album’s highlights.

If Lostprophets’ ‘Start Something’ sits proudly in your collection then ‘The Betrayed’ is most definitely an album that you should be investing in. There’s a lot of absolutely fantastic material here, and Lostprophets has once again pulled it out of the bag with a good solid album. Ian Watkins’ vocals are as impressive here as ever, instrumentally the music always has much to offer, and it just feels as though the band has put a lot of care into putting this album together. ‘The Betrayed’ may not have the rawness of debut album ‘Thefakesoundofprogress’, and was most definitely recorded on a bigger budget; a lot has changed since the release of the band’s debut in 2001 though, and the fact that the band had the luxury of being able to scrap its first draft and start afresh just shows how much this band has moved on since the early days. Much may have changed, Lostprophets still remains a band very capable of recording impressive rock music though, and ‘The Betrayed’ is an album that you should certainly seek to listen to.

Label: Visible Noise
Release Date: January 18th 2010

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Lostprophets – Can’t Catch Tomorrow (Good Shoes Won’t Save You This Time)

To coincide with their November tour, Lostprophets release ‘Can’t Catch Tomorrow (Good Shoes Won’t Save You This Time)’ on the 27th of November as the third single to be taken from the critically acclaimed, number one album ‘Liberation Transmission’. This is a really catchy single and sees the band putting out a truly infectious anthem of a track here. You’ll find yourself uncontrollably singing along and tapping your feet to this one as the band blast through this furious three and a half minutes of rock fun. As ever, the track has a great chorus complete with ‘doo-doo-doo’s which you wont be able to get out of your head for months to come.

Lostprophets really have come a long way in the past few years and have changed their sound remarkably, in my opinion for the better. Sure there will be those that argue that the old sound was better, however for every one that argues that this is the case, there will be 10 others that favour the new material. Just because the band are far more successful now than they once were doesn’t mean that they are any less credible, it merely serves to show that all the bands hard work over the years has paid off and they are now reaping the benefits. ‘Can’t Catch Tomorrow (Good Shoes Won’t Save You This Time)’ is one of the finest pop songs that I’ve heard this year and is most certainly a defining moment in Lostprophets history.

Label: Visible Noise
Release Date: 27th November 2006

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