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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hope for the future, 21 Jul 2004
By A Customer
Whatever happened on the way, this was always going to be an important album. Whatever obstacles arose, this was always going to tear through the speakers like an iceberg ripping through the sinking Titanic, grand and melancholy; thudding, juddering and ripping up anything in its wake. For all the shadows that Jimmi Lawrence's death might cast on 'The Lost Riots', Hope Of The States were always going to make a great album. And they have.Because, for all the fears that their debut would be a pretentious seven hour Dali-esque romp, point blankly refusing to acquaint itself with a tune, 'The Lost Riots' is full of them. From the opening, instrumental heaven-to-hell carnage of 'The Black Amnesias' to the point where violin cacophonies open up 'Goodhorsehymn''s wounds, Hope Of The States push the idea of the song one step further. How, we ask, will you be able to listen to Coldplay again without them descending into a satanic waltz in the middle of 'Clocks', like HOTS do during 'The Red, The White, The Black, The Blue'? Or Keane without Tom Arse-Face spitting bile'n'blood for the cause, like Sam Herlihy does in the climax to 'Nehemiah'? At a time when authenticity means Kings Of Leon doing their level-best to persuade you that their moustaches are made from the finest hairs in the Southern states, Hope Of The States mean it maaan. Where other bands chug their guitars, HOTS throttle, where they get heavy, HOTS are apocalyptic, where they get gentle, HOTS are heavenly. After 'The Black Amnesias' has sent Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor hurtling into space as an opening detonation, 'Enemies/Friends' sees Herhily adopt Billy Corgan's funereal croak, his voice almost cracking as guitars jag and chime around him, while 'Black Dollar Bills' is a haunting, broken-hearted ballad, the first half claustrophobic and sung from an underground bunker, the second half crashing, escaping and hopeful. Indeed, 'hope' is mentioned in almost every song. When it's not, the underlying message is the same, not least when the chorus of 'Nehemiah' declares "No self-pity we sing, yeah, yeah, yeah!". That the album was recorded before Jimmi's death doesn't stop the tsunami-sized poignancy. 'The Lost Riots' is proof that hope is more than just a word and by the end, with 'Goodhorsehymn's comforting, penultimate words, you realise Hope Of The States are more about light than dark, more about happiness than misery, and, most importantly, more about life than death.
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