Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 06/03/06
Label: Universal Island

On the basis that their leader is Charlie Simpson, the tall posh one from Busted - the one with the ridiculously bushy eyebrows, it would be so, so easy to mock Fightstar. Too easy perhaps. Given that he's gone from rockin' the kids in the playground to rocking the miserable kids in the mosh-pit, there are certainly adequate grounds on which to paint his new band as an extreme, and some might say desperate, attempt to be taken seriously.

Yet thanks to a handful of surprisingly potent singles, it seems Simpson's scuppered all opportunities for fun, and deftly side stepped any credibility issues that his Busted years might have posed the grown-up rock fraternity. Both "Grand Unification" and "Paint Your Target", churning nu-metal charges made exceptional by big shinning beckons of choruses, ably proved that, far from a stumbling block, Simpson's pop sensibilities could be just the thing to breath new life into the past-its-sell-by-date Linkin Park slog. And by default, those singles earned Fightstar and their debut album, the right to be judged solely on their own merits.

So Busted, eyebrows and teen pop prejudices aside, how does "Grand Unification" stand-up? Well, it's a solid effort. Invigorating as the singles were, in the context of the album, they're clear highlights as opposed to the true measure of things. If anything, their instant hooks and surging highs were a little misleading, and they end-up getting lost in a dirge of flailing rock, unfathomably dense layers and uncalled for screaming - which overshoots anguish by a mile to verge on all-out comedy.

There are quality tracks: "Grand Unification Pt II" satisfies as it lurches from mournful piano to tormented snarls and back again and "Wake Up" has a hook almost on a par with the singles. But everywhere else, there's the unmistakable sound of a band biting off more than they can chew and trying way too hard. It's simple songs overpowered by big ideas, a big budget and even bigger production. Somewhere in there, there's a good album, but as it stands, even with Slipknot producer Colin Richardson at the controls, it's not enough. After all, there are plenty of unsigned bands out there who do a good line in dated US rock who can't get a record label, let alone one as big as Universal Island, to even look at them.

Much as Simpson and the rest of Fightstar don't want to harp on the Busted connection, they need to know that it's the only reason they've got a deal. And it'll take more than a half decent album of overly ambitious niche metal to hang on to it.

    by Dan Gennoe