Start Something

How the Lostprophets developed from indie Faith No More soundalikes to genuine heavyweights in the space of two albums is a Britrock story to rival any of the more high profile tabloid tales, especially as the nu-metal movement to which they became attached gradually stuttered to a halt. Yet their second release found them decamping to LA, recording with Queens Of The Stone Age producer Eric Valentine and sounding for all the world like the real deal. As with Hundred Reasons and A, an ear for a good tune won’t have harmed their cause at all, and Start Something has a pop edge that will help them reach out beyond the moshpit. Sensibly they’ve elected to spread them across the album, balancing out more mundane and uninspired moments such as ‘To Hell We Ride’ and ‘We Are Godzilla, You Are Japan’ (good titles, not much else). If they have a problem it’s that they still haven’t really put a distance between themselves and the rest. The old FNM comparisons still crop up, especially in Ian Watkins’ vocals, and Valentine’s pristine production can’t help but remind you of Linkin Park. An identity of their own is starting to creep through though, especially on the punky ‘Last Summer’ and harmony filled ‘Hello Again’. Start Something is a fine album and will undoubtedly take Lostprophets up a level but you just feel that they’ve got it in them to come up with something totally different. They might need to.