It’s been about three years since Welsh band Lostprophets released their last album which had mixed reviews from fans and critics alike. The problem was their transition from Heavy riff songs to catchy choruses to a more pop directed album with references to 80′s glam and culture. The album had a few decent tracks but really only one heavy song that was similar to the past two albums intensity. The band had put together an entire album to be released about a year ago but decided to scrap it since they felt they weren’t headed in the right direction, so they sent out a press release stating they wanted to get more back to Start Something which had a nice blend of their known heaviness plus the catchy choruses of songs like “Last Train Home”.  After leaving Columbia Records and dropping two producers the band had finally come close to finishing up their fourth album and decided to name it something aggressive like, The Betrayed.

The album adds what the previous album didn’t which is a more aggressive sound on most songs and big time breakdowns that Start Something had.  The opening track is a cool opening album song “If It Wasn’t For Hate,We’d Be Dead By Now that reminds me of a song a surf director could use in the intro to his surf DVD segment or the opening to Billabong’s Odyssey or something like that.  The song leads into another heavy track called “Dstryr, Dstryr” which has a lot more screaming in the background like former songs and heavy guitar riffage that makes the band sound like they used to, thank god.  The following track is the single “It’s Not The End Of The World” which I thought was a mildly good song and thought they could of chosen a better single but it’s not something that is unlistenable by any means.  The next track “Where We Belong” is an Alternative Pop type song and probably a proper follow up as a single for the band in the U.S.

The best and most solid track on the album is definately “The Next Stop Atro City” which displays the heaviness of the band and sounds alot like most of the songs on Start Something and unfortunately there aren’t more songs like this after this song.  The album gets a little dry with songs such as “Streets of Nowhere” which I don’t care for too much, “A Better Nothing” and “Dirty Little Heart” which could all sound like songs left over from their last album Liberation Transmission.  Fortunately the album ends solid with the tracks “Darkest Blue” which I don’t understand why it wasn’t chosen for the single because it’s catchy but heavy at the same time and is probably one of the best all around tracks on the entire album.  The finishing song “The Light That Burns Twice As Bright”  is a nice finishing song that is a nice chill outro song to the album and reminds me of the awesome song “Sway” they had off of Start Something.  I’d love to give this album a 10 and to be honest was disappointed because my sights were set really high for this album so I can’t say it’s my favorite because it’s definately ranking 3rd place right now but it’s still a step in the right direction.  If I had any input for the band I would suggest working on an album after a tour and try for a quick release within a year since their momentum is in the right direction and see if they can get a chart topper by next one.