Oof. It's awkward checking in with Lostprophets after all these years. While the band has cycled through a few different genre identities over the years, it's primarily been of the mall emo variety. Weapons, the group's fifth full-length (only fourth to see U.S. release, though), mines the same sound heard on breakthrough Start Something. There's just not much left to find there.

Then again, I'm a bit biased. I still rock The Fake Sound of Progress on occasion, from back when the band could ostensibly be considered "metal." Starting with Start Something, however, Lostprophets gravitated towards a slicker, cleaner and, ultimately, more sterile sound. This approach bottomed out with Liberation Transmission. While Weapons isn't quite as overproduced, it still lacks punch. This record is streaming over at AOL right now, and while it's weird seeing the band compared to Linkin Park and P.O.D. in the description section, those comparisons, sadly, aren't inaccurate.

Give the band credit for packing in the singles, though. Weapons opens with the anthemic one-two punch of "Bring 'Em Down" and "We Bring an Arsenal," and while the tracks lack grit, they certainly deliver in radio ready hooks. After that, though, the album quickly devolves into mediocre mall emo. Limp guitars and synths attempt to soar while frontman Ian Watkins wails his nondescript lyrics. These songs could be about anything and played in any order. By time I hit track seven, "Better Off Dead," I realized the album wasn't going to get any better.

Lostprophets have been stuck in the same musical recycling tactic for eight years now, and Weapons shows little signs of growth. The band's previous effort, The Betrayed, didn't even come out in the U.S. One wonders why Weapons achieved such a feat.