Like it or not, Lostprophets have been an important band for British music over the last ten years. They may have missed out making it into our Top 50 Albums Of The Last Decade list (nope, no idea how we overlooked them either), but with each album they’ve released since 2000’s ‘Thefakesoundofprogress’ their audience and influence on the music scene has grown innumerably.
‘The Betrayed‘ comes four years after the group’s most commercially successful yet arguably most-criticised effort ‘A Liberation Transmission’. In that time they’ve lost a drummer, scrapped an entire album’s worth of material, found a new drummer, made enough enemies to start their own war and gotten new haircuts (probably). So has it been worth the wait? Is ‘The Betrayed‘ an album that has justifiably taken four years to make?
Possibly. What is clear is that within this record are some of the best songs that Lostprophets have written. ‘Next Stop Atro City‘ is a towering juggernaut of a track, while ‘Streets of Nowhere’ is as dancey as they come. ‘It’s Not The End Of The World…’ may be horribly cheesey and in many people’s eyes the worst song on offer here, but it’s a radio-friendly anthem that has served its ultimate purpose as an appetite-whetter for the media and the masses. They did it before with ‘Last Train Home’ and ‘Rooftops’, so why the hell break a proven-to-work tradition?
There are flaws dotted throughout ‘The Betrayed‘, however. ‘Dirty Little Heart’ is a forgettable number, trundling along with little direction for the best part of six minutes, while elsewhere Watkins’ lyrical efforts can at times seem like he’s just taking the utter piss (see ‘For He’s A Jolly Good Felon’ – ‘Mikey! Where’d you get those Nikes?’). Seriously, dude?
Overall though, it feels as though Lostprophets are back. Like, properly back. ‘The Betrayed‘ is a much more coherent and fluid album than ‘A Liberation Transmission’ ever was and while there’s enough anthems here to keep Radio 1’s musical directors happy, there’s more than just the odd throwback to the ‘Start Something’ sound which ‘Prophet fans the world over have been calling out for. ‘The Betrayed‘ isn’t a compromise for Lostprophets – it’s an exercise in catering for the masses while leaving their own integrity firmly in tact, and it’s a job well done at that.
Andy R