Lostprophets
Weapons

"Weapons" is the fifth album by Lostprophets, and if this is the path they are on, the Welsh guys, semi-unknown in Italy but now one of the key points of the British alternative rock scene, should seriously start thinking about their future. With this, I don’t want to immediately criticize this new work, but the annoying trick of releasing a couple of encouraging tracks, including the excellent "Better Off Dead" before the album’s release in hopes they act as lures is perhaps older than they are. "Weapons" is a fun, well-played, carefree album, but largely empty, making it accessible to everyone.

So after the opening track, the second single "Bring'em Down" and the stadium-like chant of the good "We Bring An Arsenal", our guys gradually start to fall back into the somewhat clichéd and bland atmospheres of the pop/rock showcased in an album like "Liberation Transmission". Tracks like "Another Shot" and "Jesus Walks" are pleasant pieces, but they feel used, recycled without offering something truly convincing aside from a catchy mainstream chorus.

The search for the 'easy' melody is indeed the key to this album, which unlike the previous "The Betrayed", more balanced between soft and edgier pieces, does not offer alternatives that can balance the work, or better yet, they are hidden 'at the bottom', I'll try to explain myself better during the review.

My 'track by track' may even come off as too punitive, but it is right to be objective, and this is how tracks like "A Song From Where I’m From" and "A Little Reminder That I’ll Never Forget", beyond some interesting insight from vocalist Ian Watkins and his sly choruses, offer little else.

Flat rhythm and at times a bit soporific, a constant line interrupted by the already mentioned "Better Off Dead", a mix of hip hop and rock that is literally a fish out of water when listening to the entire album. Given how it is played and sung, I believe it was written and recorded in a different context and time compared to most of the other tracks, the guitars are more proactive, and it is one of the few pieces where the bass is 'played' and doesn't just serve as a bland accompaniment, probably among the most convincing tracks of the album.

After this interlude, everything obvious the band could create resumes without respite, and so tracks like "Heart On Loan" and "Somedays" complete with acoustic intro, sound as fresh as the colors of the cover.

In the finale, a surprise: for the classic version of the album (and yes, there is also a Deluxe...) the closure belongs to the good "Can't Get Enough", which can be translated as "not enough"!? (almost a message) that after 8 minutes of silence opens to the ghost track "Weapon" in demo version. Currently, this is the 'hardest' track of the entire album and was performed live starting from 2007 at Wembley Stadium. The reason a song that gives the album its name is hidden, in this case can only be one, that is the piece in question, being decidedly more rock and aggressive compared to the album, was for this reason 'concealed', for the 'those who want it will find it' series, a kind of wink to the nostalgic, a wrong choice that speaks volumes about the band’s market strategies.

To close, a note on the tracks in the Deluxe version that at least offer something different, between the good speed of "Save Yourself" and "The Dead", another demo written a few years ago, and the rhythm of "If You Don’t Stand for Something, You’ll Fall for Anything", with an interesting almost post-hardcore stamp mixed with a convincing vocal base. Bland, on the other hand, is the remix of "Bring Em Down" which only serves to act as a container for the Deluxe version’s already mentioned hidden track "Weapon".

In conclusion, it can be said that the change of record label did nothing and that the band has resumed the path of the ostentatious search for predictable catchiness, a path partially abandoned with the last album. Furthermore, trying to hide the strongest tracks among ghost tracks and demos for limited editions probably also means being ashamed of their past.

To close, "Weapons" is an album worth 3/5, somewhere between something done poorly and something that had to be done. And it's incredible to think that the Cardiff guys started like this.