Lostprophets Album: “Liberation Transmission”

First off, the first guy's review is totally wrong. I laughed out loud when he said 4am compared to Goodbye Tonight on Start Someting. Please don't read that review. LP is not pop-punk. I'll write 2 quick reviews. One for fans of LP who've heard their other 2 cd's, the other for newcomers who saw the Rooftops video on TV or something of that sort.

Liberation Transmission. Hmm. First off, let's begin by stating that is would be near impossible to follow up with someting as spectacular as Start Something. Tough to match. I always personally thought Start Something made LP their own genre. Call it "nu-rock" or whatever. The number one thing I expected out of Liberation Transmission was a new style, due to the evolution of style from Fake Sound to Start Something. If not a new style, the same as SS, but with more advanced vocals and instrumentals. I kind of got that, but not as much as i anticipated. The songs in LT are not as catchy as SS, and not as creative. The one thing I remember about SS was that each song as a very creative, brilliant beat. I could hear 3 seconds of any song and know what it was. Though LT doesn't meet these exact specs, it does a good job.

I must address these accusations that LP have gone emo. No, they are not. People who accused it of being emo don't know what emo is. Emo is a style that concentrates on allowing the listener to hear exactly what the singer is saying, with hardly any instrumental ingeniuvity or such. Emo bands want listeners to know what they are thinking and feeling. This is not LP.

Unfortunately, I can understand the accusations that some of their songs are emo. On SS, they flirted a tad with emo, not that much though. On LT, I can clearly pick out several songs that are laced with emo characteristics. :( And Jesus, look at their pictures in the cd. Ugh, they're really flirting with emo.

But don't freat, most of their songs are still in the old school LP style, upbeat, easy to sing along, have that sprinkle of creative genius. If you are any fan of LP, you must buy it.

If you haven't heard much of LP, I suggest you buy Fake Sound of Progress, and then Start Something, and listen in that order. After 2 years, I still can't make up my mind about which CD is more brilliant.

What does LP sound like?

Lp, that's it. I can't really comapre them. Great guitar rifts, great vocals, great drums, great keys, awesome lyrics, great live band.

AMAZING album. It changes things up a bit, a little more poppy than the other ones but still sticking to their roots. I never like LOVED lostprophets, I always though they were good but that has changed after this album. It is easily became one of my favorite albums ever. Amazing.

WOW! sometimes when a band gets around to there 3rd album,most fall away from making good music like they use to.not here though.Liberation Transmission is a very good follow up to Start Something.After a day,and about 3 spins, i fine myself really into this CD.let's rate track by track.

1. Everyday Combat- Great opening track.Loved it the first time i heard it.Don't think your safe cause this reviews not over.lol.5/5

2.Town Called Hypocrisy- good,but seems a bit on the filler side.i find myself singing along though.la-la,la,la-la 4/5

3.New Transmission-also seem like a fillest song.but can listen to it aswell.3/5

4.Rooftops- The first single.LOVE IT!!!not a follow up to Last train home like mention in other reviews.the song is very different.5/5

5.Can't Stop, Gotta Date With Hate- seems to be a very 80's pop like song.catchy.3/5

6.Can't Catch Tomorrow- i guess the dance/pop/sing-a-long songs go back 2 back.another 3/5

7.Everybody's Screaming- now where talking.good chrous.rather enjoy this track.4/5

8.Broken Hearts- you'll never fall in love if you don't fall at all.i fell in love with this track 4/5.

9.4:Am Forever- slow track.very solid.one of the best tracks on here.5/5

10.For All These Times Kid, For All These Times-might be the best song on the album.i'll wake up tomorrow mourning singing this one.5/5

11.Heaven For The Weather, Hell For The Company-good riff.about the right place on the album for this song.4/5

12.Always All Ways- great finish.not to hard,but not to soft.very nice finish.5/5

great opening track,followed by some good fill,into the single,followed by some more dancey fill,than leads into a strong finish.i enjoy this album.not super multi-platium as Start Something,but i can listen to the whole album without skipping any tracks.I'm giving it a solid 4 stars.As long as LostProphets continue to make good music like this,i'll be a fan.

...bands that get commercial success get lazy...they realise that talent isn't as important as what is accessible because they work out that that is what the public (the subliminal sheep crustaceans of the rock pool of society) buy...because they are only exposed to sounds that are three minute comfortable verses...

...I was foolish enough to think that the boys from the lost prophets showed a mild amount of promise after hearing their debut (the fake sound of progress) and even though their style had been done a million times before..I thought the competition would be enough to encourage them to hone their sound and develop something more then just "hi...we're welsh and we're nu-metal listen to our riffs with clean vocals from me IAN WATKINS I AM YOUR LEADER MY CHILDREN!!!"

...they had the support of young children...(and I mean young)...that didn't believe in complexity and technical musicianship and only wanted anthemic hooks and angst drenched riffs (fair enough...I'm still one of those young people...just not as young as before but still a teen)...and a fan base of those that loved Ian Watkins was also in the making...but it was smaller and politer (and they didn't care about shoe size so they were sane enough) and enough to make you just think "let them have some idols and be disapointed later in life because after all we are sadistic idiots"...but then the next album came along (to which I have forgotten the name...I could look it up but...I don't have that much time...) and upon listen I realised they had done the equivalent that some people would think is "selling out"...although some of the heaviness still resides it has been watered down significantly and with radio friendly hits like "Summer" and "Last Train Home" alot of the hardcore fans were alienated, yet some remained hopeful maybe they will return to their Nu-Metal roots later...as a huge array of mainstream popular feel good rock people decided to get into their music...and the Ian Watkins fan club forever rising with more innuendos and losing much more dignity...

...and now to this album...Liberation Transmission doesn't exactly pretend...it knows very well it is commercial and seems to embrace that fact..."Standing on the rooftops" and "Town called Hypocrisy" although at first listen to sound slightly different...peel off one layer of artificial emotion and you have the exact smae structure between each songs...simple and dull guitar riffs...and nothing that they used to stand for...yes their are some non single tracks on here that still show little remenisences of their previous incarnation...but nothing obvious...

...and of course now...they have acquired the label of the new and deproved version of emo (MCR, FFAF, Senses Failed...not rites of spring in any shape or form) and because of this you have annoying "I'm trying to sing a ballad but I can't because I cried too hard" songs like "4am Forever"...and thanks to this new label of emo guess how large this Ian Watkins fan club is now? People that care about his shoe size...how often he dyes his hair and pointless mundane things like that...

...maybe I'm not the right person to review this because I like:

1. Music with power and agression.

2. Painstakingly Inaccessible music.

3. Technical and intelligent musicianship.

4. Melodicly and beautiful emotional music.

...but I can assure you this music has none of these features and shows no signs of it...if you want emo music (the new kind) I would recommend Brand New...but if it's the fact that they're welsh that sells you (um...ok) I would reccomend Funeral for a Friend...at least they had some dignity with their mellowing out...

...they have gone from the Nu-Metal trend...to the Nu-Emo trend...and failed...do not buy this...unless of course you are an exclusive member of the Ian Watkins fan club...if so...I salute you in terror...

As the title of the review dictates, my personal enjoyment of Liberation Transmission was far from immediate. I bought it for $3.99 without having heard any of the songs except Rooftops, and then after listening to it twice one day I decided it wasn't quite as good as the non-emo style of Start Something and Fake Sound of Progress but at least was worth keeping in my collection for a few stand-out tracks. But then I listened to the album once more on my MP3 player yesterday and I was absolutely astonished by how awesome it was; far better than I had given it credit for after the first two listens, and I would now in fact call it one of the finer releases of 2006. Unlike the Hawthorne Heights or Simple Plan brand of emo, this album has a good degree of sophistication lyrically and instrumentally which is not at all shameful to be a fan of. Some of the songs even have guitar progressions that adopt a style similar to that of Bloc Party or The Bravery, such as the awesome track "Heaven fro the Weather, Hell for the Company". Speaking of song titles, that's the only real downside to the album; lengthy track names similar to the ones used by Panic! At the Disco and Fall Out Boy are corny on occasion and will likely not aid the Lostprophets in getting the respect they deserve for this phenomenal album. Still, track titles do nothing to mar the musical content of the tracks, which is of the finest quality. My favorite song on here would definitely have to be "The New Transmission", which probably is a hit too for all I know since I did after all hear it playing in a mall one time. This song has a particularly catchy and noisy riff in the background, a great energetic chorus where the guy yells "faaaaaaaaaaade out", and simply an awesome flow to the melody which may tempt you to head-bang depending on your age. "The New Transmission" is probably one of my Top 100 favorite tracks of all time, closely followed in greatness by "Heaven for the Weather, Hell for the Company", "Rooftops", and "A Town Called Hypocrisy". As I recall there were about five other tracks I liked extremely also; my MP3 player was in my pocket when the songs were playing though and thus I don't know all the names of them. I do know however that this is one amazing CD; technically flawless. I really can no longer say I want the band to return to the style of Start Something or the album before it, but don't get me wrong; I do like those albums a lot and wouldn't be completely heartbroken if they returned to that style for their next release. Overall I'd say that Liberation Transmission is a solid five star album, and one that certainly deserves more than a single listen if you weren't impressed with it the first time. Highly recommended!