Weapons

Weapons is the fifth and final studio album by the Welsh alternative rock band Lostprophets. It was released through Epic Records on 2 April 2012. It was the first and only record featuring Luke Johnson on drums, after being with two other drummers previously, Mike Chiplin and Ilan Rubin (the latter of whom features in archive recordings included on the "deluxe edition" of Weapons, as well as the hidden track "Weapon" on all versions of the album). This was the last album to ever be released by the band before lead vocalist Ian Watkins was convicted of numerous sex offences, which led to their disbandment. Like the earlier Liberation Transmission, it features Latin on the front, which reads deus velox nex. When translated it reads God is swift death. Writing and recording history The band started writing new material after finishing The Betrayed Tour. The album was produced by Ken Andrews at Hollywood. Several songs were debuted before it official release date. "Bring Em' Down" was played live in the warm up shows for the 2011 V Festival, and was aired as the first single from Weapons on Zane Lowe's Hottest Record on 6 February 2012. "We Bring an Arsenal" made its debut on 25 February 2012. The song "Better Off Dead" received its first radio play by BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe as his "Hottest Record in the World". As of 6 January 2012 it was made available for download from the band's official website. Release and promotion This was Lostprophets' only studio release through Epic (UK) and Fearless (US) after leaving their long-time served record, Visible Noise. Lostprophets also announced an extensive tour of the UK and Ireland, consisting of 14 shows which commenced on the 15 April 2012 in Dublin and finished on the 4 May 2012 in London. It was released in the UK on 2 April 2012 and it was released in the US on 19 June 2012. Because the fourth studio album The Betrayed was not released in North America, it's the band's fourth released album in some regions. The "deluxe edition" of the albums contains three "Garage sessions" tracks, recorded in 2007 as demos for the ultimately-abandoned album sessions with John Feldmann prior to The Betrayed, with the track "Weapon" from the same sessions included as a hidden track on all versions of the album. Further more bonus tracks are found on the Japanese "deluxe edition". The US "deluxe edition" is different from the UK edition. Lostprophets headlined the Warped Tour UK in November 2012.