Lost Prophets
plus support: Kilkus - Forever Until October Witchwood, Ashton Under Lyme
9th September 2001

review by Ruth

I'm praying that my profound sense of déja-vu is just my fear playing up. Last time we turned up to the Witchwood to see The Lostprophets, it turned out they had cancelled their headline slot due to laryngitis. Turns out tonight they're not in the best of health either. Oh dear...

Forever Until October (yeah, I feel like that sometimes too...) are the surprise hit of the evening. Phil Darroch's voice is a diamond in the rough, powerful and tender in turns, heart-wrenching over the grinding guitar tunage. My one fear is that the reason that they've been signed is their skewed resemblance to Hundred Reasons, in terms of melodic preference. But 'Forever..' have their own unique charm that should ensure they can rise above such comparisons to make a niche all their own.

Kilkus have been through a couple of changes since we last saw them in June. Slimmed down after the departure of former vocalist Paul Collins and bassist Dave Holland, and with guitarist Kris now taking over vocal duties, how will the new line-up interpret 'The Pattern Of Self-Design' album? Pretty well, by the signs of things. While DJ Edo throws himself around like a monk from the church of metal on speed, Kris' charisma shows us why he was the natural choice to take over as frontman. It's dark, sinister, spine-tingling, hammering.. in short the Witchwood kids' dream. There's a handful of kids from those who turned up for Lostprophets last time, and caught these guys instead. From the looks of things tonight they might have picked up more than a couple more converts.

Radio One's coverage of Leeds festival this year described Lostprophets as the surprise hit of the weekend. Near the top of the bill on the Carling Stage, the last year of silently sold-out tours resulted in near packed out tents, and it seems the word is spreading. Tonight's been sold out for the last week or so, and the Witchwood is packed with kids waiting for the imminent re-release of 'Thefakesoundofprogress'.

And to be quite honest, it's not so much of a surprise. Built upon a combination of suppressed futuristic atmospherics, melodic basslines and trickling guitar with a tendency to callapse into moshpit fodder, and Ian's gorgeous vocals, ably assisted by Jamie's seething screams, it's an aural soul massage. And while it'd be a foolish girl who denies that Lostprophets are six very appealing young gentlemen (and that there are several advantages to trews that hang that low...), this is no manufactured pretty boy band like some certain other metal bands we could mention. This isn't just cashing in on teenage angst, not just someone whining about their shitty life. 'Forsure' crashes through inner uncertainty, hatred and regret, but ultimately hope. But it's for the forthcoming single 'shinobiVSdragonninja' than the crowd go really ballistic, it's tentative bassline exploding into showers of grinding sparks of guitar riffs. The stage lasts barely thirty seconds (relatively) unobscured before the crowd collapses upon it.

While it's taken time for the world at large to pick up on the guys from Pontypridd, at last it seems someone is listening. For the last few years the best things to come out of the valleys have been the Manics and Catatonia. Finally Wales is starting to make up for it...