Lostprophets

Mick Middles

THE antidote to all those who, quite understandably, believe that full-force rock acts tend to be one-dimensional.

No reactionary stance or lack of adventure here. Given that the band's first album, Start Something, is one of the few genuinely classic rock albums of the past decade - a work of unprecedented scope and vigour - one might have forgiven this extraordinary Welsh band for softening a little in the swell of near global success.

Not a bit of it. Liberation Transmission continues the momentum, building a wide range of ferocious effects into the heart of the mix.

Here gang-like power chants mingle with fiery guitar chops and black chords to a resounding overall effect. I played it in the car, which pumped into the air and, no doubt, truly angered the good folk of Wilmslow...it was thrilling to capture the sound within the confines of a green Astra!

Not since Led Zeppelin's awesome Physical Graffiti has a rock album gathered immense diversity to such powerful effect and I do not make that comparison lightly.

It's a rare thing indeed to discover any album, let alone a heavy rock album, that refuses to fire a single dud!

Each spellbinding track, a surging and torrential bombast...intelligent, beautifully interlocking slices of power, sitting in a strange world where Motorhead might meet Radiohead, as dirty as a rusting Norton Commando, as bright and innovative as a sharp suited silicon valley big wig!

Lostprophets are carrying rock to a real bright future and, at this moment in time, remain terrifyingly ahead of the game.