Lost Alone - Say No to the World (Scorpia)
2/5
By: Gareth Roberts
Having been on the receiving end of other folks' mixed opinions about Lost Alone, it was with an open mind that I set 'Say No To The World' spinning (well, I say open, but with a title like that you're naturally already thinking 'f**k me, another bunch of whiney bastards', aren't you?)
'Elysium' explodes in a ferocious declaration of intent, all massive riffs and wall of sound strength, before something peculiar happens - the vocal kicks in, reminiscent of John Lydon if he were American and had a noticeable speech impediment. Next, a bit of screaming - all sounding very My Chemical Romance, so far - before it morphs into a downbeat romp... it really is a track of many faces, and one that kicks things off in surprisingly enthralling style. If MCR's is the Black Parade, it appears that Lost Alone's is more a sort of... rainbow coloured romp (without the homosexual connotations).
Things then sadly take a turn for the worse, as the record 'develops' in to a straight forward emo-rock album. 'Unleash The Sands of All Time' and 'Silence' for example do nothing more than tide things over, and its not until 'Ethereal', a slower, more mature sounding number, that Lost Alone redeem themselves with a welcome change in pace indicative of a wider breadth of song-writing ability.
The rest of the record passes by rather uneventfully, save for 'Genevieve's Motorhead-like riffing and 'Blood is Sharp's Queen of the Stage Age-referencing rhythm. The somewhat sickly 'Predators in a Maze' does little to excite, and instead seems resigned to a rather dull fate - "we are the future, we are together.. I am so lonely". If only there was more in the way of the closing number, 'Standing on the Ruin of a Beautiful Empire', which clocks in at a mighty 9½ minutes, a track that like the album's opener is one of the more interesting on offer.
'Say No to the World' is essentially a fairly solid offering, however. There are moments when everything clicks into place, moments where one can really 'get it', yet for much of the record it's all far too mundane and standard, freshly rolled out from the emo-factory. In the end, it's not so much a rainbow parade - more a sort of dull, greyish one. There are flecks of gold in it nonetheless, and as such, expect to hear a bit more from them before the year's out.
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