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Rating:
Brilliant debut for the British band Hope Of The States. Their album, released on August 27th and listened to today, made me exclaim: "Wow... yes yes... this is exactly my kind of music!".
Simple yet determined, melodic and engaging without ever falling into melancholy, this is essentially what emerges from "The Lost Riots" (produced by Ken Thomas, the same who works with Sigur Ros). A mix of grit, anger, intensity, and melody characterizes this band, formed at the end of 2000 in Chichester.
Their debut single, "The Red The White The Black The Blue," features vocals reminiscent of Kelly Jones of the Stereophonics and expresses a true and typical "rock" energy, 3 minutes and 40 seconds of dry, decisive, and driving rock, much like the opening track "The Black Amnesias," which starts with a delicate guitar arpeggio before giving way to drums, violins, bass, and distortion, making this track (almost 5 minutes of instrumental) a strong anthem to the psychedelic rock'n'roll of 2000.
Essentially, as you continue listening to this work, it becomes evident that the presence of ballads is the strong point of the album, with "Me Ves Y Sufres" definitely taking center stage. A 5-and-a-half minute ecstasy, piano, strings, very delicate voice, very light bass, drums that come in decisively only towards the end, in short... this track is a mix of all those characteristics a pop ballad needs to be perfect...
Noteworthy also are "Don't Go To Pieces" (with a sweet piano intro and drums that come in only at certain parts of the track, the emotion these 5 minutes manage to convey is incredible...) and "Goodhorsehymn" (starting with organ, then violins, piano, hard, dry drum but not heavy, it slightly recalls the style of the magnificent Kent... this is indeed pop-rock!) "Black Dollar Bills" is a real delirium, an ecstasy, an incredible 7-minute emotion, almost a "Champagne Supernova" of the new millennium or a "747" of 2004. Spine-chilling.
The closure is entrusted to "1776" (at the end of which there is a hidden track full of adrenaline and extremely pleasant), a great track in itself, which doesn’t depart much from the rest of the album and adheres to the standard set by the previous 11 tracks, light pop-rock, exciting, of incredible quality, never trivial, never excessively melancholic like that of fellow countrymen Coldplay, indeed...
This album can be seen as a synthesis of what Kent is (highlighting also a certain similarity in some vocal parts), that is, a gritty, energetic band yet capable of conveying emotions with very sweet melodies during the immersion in the sound of this record... a must-have for those who love melodic pop and for those who love a tense, angry rock that mixes, with excellent results, with "easy-listening" arrangements and sections, making this possibly the best debut of 2004.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Enemies/Friends (04:41)
Lately in the hospitals
The halfway homes and choking jails
There's people on the mend again
With hope to carry on again
It makes me feel that something's right
For everyone who tries to fight
No politics or dirty tricks
All standing up and shouting out
All the money in the world won't save you
We're coming home
All the prisons that you build won't hold us
Just let us go
Then I found a broken heart
With dusty wheezing thing won't start
I'll fix it up and watch it grow
And send it to a happy home
It don't take much to raise a smile
To push yourself the extra mile
I'll stand with you when things go wrong
And lie and say it's not too long
All the money in the world won't save you
We're coming home
All the prisons that you build won't hold us
Just let us go
Come on people
Keep your friends close
Your enemies won't matter in the end
Come on people
Keep your friends close
Your enemies won't matter in the end
In the end
In the end
05 The Red the White the Black the Blue (03:40)
Mouths of dust and ruptured windpipe
Fairytales for lying cheats.
they're lashing out like wolves in barbed wire.
Ring the bells and start the fires now.
The red white and the blue
Has always been what led you.
If you don't do something
They'll steal it all from under you.
Board decisions, bored children
Watch the world through gunsight eyes.
I hijack train wrecks, sell the wheels
No way out unless you steal it all.
The red white and the blue
Has always been what led you.
If you don't do something
They'll steal it all from under you.
You beat us black and blue,
We're coming back to find you.
The red white and the blue
Has always been what led you.
If you don't do something
They'll steal it all from under you.
10 Nehemiah (04:09)
Nehemiah, last survivor
In this cynical world.
Sparks come from anywhere,
It's the fire that matters.
Nehemiah sing to the storm,
Make it turn around.
It's all decided before you're born.
Hear us singing we sing:
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No self pity we sing:
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Friendly fire, burn the liars.
Don't feel like you're alone.
Let them all hide behind
Dead flags and old lies.
Nehemiah you were the leader,
We all just followed.
Sparks come from anywhere,
It's the fire that matters.
Hear us singing we sing:
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No self pity we sing:
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Hear us singing we sing:
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No self pity we sing:
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
People come on make a stand.
Come on people if you try you can.
You're not alone when the lights go off.
We stand together when it all stops.
Hear us singing we sing:
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No self pity we sing:
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
People come on make a stand.
Come on people if you try you can.
You're not alone when the lights go off.
We stand together when it all stops.
12 1776 (14:53)
I'm all washed up at twenty
And it's all my fault.
If loves an illness
Then I hope I get it.
I got it wrong, I got it wrong, I got it wrong.
I'll spend the rest of my life
Trying to make it right.
Somewhere there's a fight.
We are fighting for what we lost.
Something that we find
Might not save us or make things right.
I hope I get the chance
To finish what I started
I've always felt like it might be too far.
I hope I'm wrong, I hope I'm wrong, I hope I'm wrong.
I'm holding on, I'm holding out for something more.
Somewhere there's a fight.
We are fighting for what we lost.
Something that we find
Might not save us or make things right.
Somewhere there's a fight.
We are fighting for something else.
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Other reviews
By principles
"The Lost Riots truly made me jump out of my seat the first time I listened to it."
"This music is a sort of 'testament of the world,' a kind of pre-apocalypse, surely due to the emotional charge that this album can 'donate.'"
