Album Reviews |

Fightstar



Be Human 7 ( 2009 )
Calling On All Stations / The English Way / War Machine / Never Change / Colours Bleed To Red / The Whisperer / Mercury Summer / Give Me The Sky / Chemical Blood / Tonight We Burn / Damocles / Follow Me Into The Darkness

Charlie Simpson, who was the youngest member of pop boy-band Busted has now fronted three albums as vocalist for rock band 'Fightstar'. Overcoming initial predjudice from music fans for being anything at all to do with Busted has taken awhile for Fightstar, yet 'Be Human' is a powerful sounding album. Hailing from London yet with a very American sound, Fightstar are having to slog their guts around the live circut at places like Exeter (Hardly Oz Fest, no disrespect to Exeter intended) and it seems to have paid dividends. The playing is tight, they create a post nu-metal sound if such a thing is possible and the vocals are surprisingly gritty and authentic for this kind of melodic thrash rock. I hesitate to call it metal, because it isn't - yet it is the kind of thing Kerrang magazine will probably wet themselves over. A song such as 'Damocles' is very heavy you see and the lyrics are suitably growled and the playing is suitably metal. Yet, this is no real advance over the kind of stuff 'Nu-Metal' gave us in the 90s. Naturally, 'Fightstar' don't have to be innovative neccessarily, which is just as well really, because they aren't. To give 'Be Human' some credit though, this is a perfect rock album for the modern generation. Light on actual tunes, full of riffing guitars that could appear on a future edition of 'Guitar Hero' and totally without compromise. No ballads aiming for the pop parade, then? Well, no.

'Mercury Summer' is relatively radio friendly, enough to get on the US alternative station playlists, at least. Well, here in the UK we're a bit lacking in alternative rock stations at the moment. Well, I suppose Kerrang have a radio outlet somewhere out there. Such a thought really sums up 'Fightstar', I mean, potentially they could attract a huge audience with their intelligent blend of modern rock, yet they'll never really become a world-beating act. You know, that's ok really as 'Chemical Blood' with its blend of orchestra and rock band is pretty cool at the end of the day.

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