Fake Sound Of Progress, The - Lostprophets

Lost Prophets are a band of 6 friends from Wales. Their genre of music is hard to define as it seems to cross so many boundaries. They blend hard guitar riffs, melodic, as well as shout-y vocals, with some hip-hop beats. Which may seem like a bit of a mish-mash, but works unexpectedly well. Because of this blend of genres, Lost Prophets draw many comparisons. Throughout their album and live shows, these comparisons include Incubus, Linkin Park and for the heavier songs, the energy of Rage Against the Machine.

Lead singer Ian Watkins has one of the most distinctive and comprehensive voices around in modern bands. On the first album 9’The Fake Sound of Progress’ - released 2001) his repertoire explores different sounds. From the mellow, almost haunting harmonies of ‘Still Laughing’, to the opening track, the nu-metal teen anthem of Shinobi vs Dragon Ninja (weird name with no relevance to the song! But still, it doesn’t really matter!).

The album throws up several other surprises, and some of the best track include the title track ‘Fake Sound of Progress’. Although it is nearly 6 minutes long, it is made up of different sections which makes it seem not nearly so long. It has some heavy guitar sections and other calmer more reflective moments - the lyrics don’t make too much sense (a bit of a theme throughout Lost Prophets work) but the rhymes and range help to accentuate Ian Watkins voice, and show of his vocal range.
Again, ‘Kobraki’ is a highlight of the album, making full use of the lead singers voice with a huge range shown between the heavy, shout-y chorus and the gentle soulful verses.

All in all this is an interesting and thought-provoking album, created with many contrasting influences in mind. Despite the originality in some aspects of the album, there is some fairly senseless and average ‘rock’ in there. Between this slightly disappointing aspect of their work - Lost Prophets can be justifiably proud of ‘The Fake Sound of Progress’ especially considering it is a debut work.

Lost Prophets have worked very hard to get to where they are today, years of gig’s in the underground scene, built up a strong a loyal fan base in their native Wales. The reputation they established here for high-energy, explosive live shows has stuck with them thus-far.

The band obviously enjoy performing live because they have done little else for the majority of their career. Initially starting out by supporting anybody they could, they eventually struck the big-time in 2002 when they were signed up to tour with Linkin Park on their UK tour. I was lucky enough to see them on this tour, when they performed their biggest show to date - at Wembley Arena to 20,000 fans. This was my first real introduction to their music, and they were certainly not fazed by the big stage, putting in a stellar performance which almost matched that of Linkin Park themselves.

Since then they have had their own UK tour at the latter end of 2004. This sell out tour was a huge success - I also saw them live on this tour, at Hammersmith Palais. Again, their performance did not disappoint, with Ian Watkins stage-diving and being carried around the crowd in the middle of a song.
Having also seen them at the Reading Festival 2004, and see (and unfortunately feel!) them split the crowd in half and get them to run at each other as the guitar kicks in, was probably (perversely) the highlight of my weekend.

I have experienced and see that Lost Prophets have a very strong and loyal fan base who have almost grown up with them. I suppose I am one of those people, and if I had to demographise (if that is a word!) the type of people who are fans, it would include the stereotypical angst-ridden teen age group - but from being at their shows I noticed that there are certainly older fans who enjoy the music, and younger fans who like some of their more ‘Pop’ songs. The live show is probably unsuitable for under 16’s however due to the raucous nature of some of the songs - indeed their recent tour was 16+ only.

Overall then, the album is very good, and live, Lost Prophets step up another level and give great performances time after time, they have had enough practice at it after all! So I would urge you to support this band if you are a fan of this genre of music, and help deserving British bands like these make it.