Start Something

Lostprphets: Ian Watkins (vocals); Lee Gaze, Mike Lewis (guitar); Jamie Oliver (keyboards, turntables, background vocals); Stuart Richardson (bass); Mike Chiplin (drums).
On their sophomore disc, Welsh metal band Lostprophets immediately launch into a heavy, staccato guitar riff that is joined by electronic tweaking, and it's clear that this opening track, "We Still Kill the Old Way," is going to rock. But then vocalist Ian Watkins jumps in, tempos shift, and before long the soaring chorus takes the song to even grander heights. This knack for being unpredictable defines Lostprophets and easily separates them from any run-of-the-mill nu-metal contemporaries.
In fact, much of START SOMETHING tips its hat to another band that resisted being pigeonholed: Faith No More. Watkins's dynamic voice often echoes the singing of FNM frontman Mike Patton, while the group's blend of fierce guitars, tight rhythms, keyboards, and mellow interludes also shares similarities with the elder band. However, Lostprophets are no mere FNM clone; they take that group's sonic template and apply to it to the musical landscape of 2004, even incorporating some of the emo elements used by acts such as Vendetta Red. On anthemic tracks such as "Last Train Home" and "I Don't Know," Lostprophets show vitality and inventiveness that is rare in early 21st-century rock.