By now, everyone should be familiar with the story of lostprophets and their pedophiliac lead singer. Anyway, after his indiscretions were made public, the band broke up and the other five members have now regrouped as No Devotion with former Thursday singer Geoff Rickly. What they have formed sounds nothing like their previous bands. Coming across as a combination of Joy Division and ‘80s New Wave, they have come out of the gate determined to leave their pasts behind.
First single “Stay,” which was released in 2014 to properly introduce the band, is one of the best pop songs in a hell of a long time. Not since “Somebody That I Used to Know” has there been a song this catchy and powerful. The second single “10,000 Summers” is the type of song that goes above and beyond to prove what this band is truly capable of. They’ve proven that they have moved beyond the pop-punk of lostprophets and emo of Thursday.
Geoff Rickly’s vocals on the opening track “Break” are very distinctive and help keep the song alive, alert and full of energy. The most striking track here, however, is “Why Can’t I Be With You,” which is completely dynamic as opposed to some of the other tracks present here. It goes without saying that fans of both lostprophets and Thursday might end up being disappointed by the electronic-driven results on this disc, but fans who already love this type of music will be driven towards something new.
All in all, it’s great to see the members of lostprophets picking themselves up from the desperation that their despicable singer put them in and trying again. Songs like “Addition” are great, but overall, the album as a whole is just okay. An okay experience that could’ve been a lot better.