Review Summary: The band evolve musically with great sophistication, but with the desire and intention as if it were their very first release.
One thing that was plain to see out on Fightstar’s debut EP
They Liked You Better When You Were Dead was a simple sense of honesty. Written and recorded on the side throughout 2004 while frontman Charlie Simpson was still an unhappy part of the pop group Busted, it’s something that with every listen, you can tell that it was made for nothing else than they enjoyment of making music you care for. It wasn’t supposed to be their job, only an outlet for genuine emotion. Fast forward ten years and we find ourselves in oddly similar situation with the release of their fourth full length album. A reunion show following a near five year hiatus in December 2014 sparked the band back into life again, and a further tour, writing sessions, and ultimately,
Behind the Devil’s Back followed. It has also been confirmed, however, that Simpson is going back to Busted, and that Fightstar is more of a pleasure project that would appear from time to time, when the band has a chance away from whatever has become of the day job for each member. This may be a shame for long time fans who spent several years hoping for a full scale return of the band, but the fact that Fightstar are back in this way means they only have to exist for the same reasons as they did back when they formed. As it turns out, they still do it extremely well.
Ever since their first EP Fightstar’s signature has always been the contrasting of heavy tones with clean, often beautiful moments. Each song on
Behind the Devil’s Back album moves through different phases, the most balls out heavy track, “Sink With the Snakes” has a rousing chorus offset against the grittiest verses the band has done. On the other hand, “More Human than Human” goes for beauty more than any other song but is drenched in atmosphere and holds a notable weight of power. “Animal” sits in the middle, opening with all out screams but goes on to provide the sort of emotional wrench that invites the listener to pour their own feelings into a song. The band’s ability to come up with such an abundance of hooks and choruses has also not been lost in the intervening years, such as on the aforementioned “Sink With the Snakes”, but other standouts on this front include “Murder All Over” and the wonderfully heartwarming ending to “Overdrive”.
Behind the Devil’s Back feels like a culmination of everything that made the band what it was on its previous releases, but presented in a new and refined way. Whereas on their last two albums
One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours and
Be Human each song felt like an independent moment, this record feels much more as one.
New areas are explored, however, at the same time as refining the old. The move to seven string guitars contributes to what is certainly Fightstar’s heaviest overall album, along Simpson’s harsh vocals that feature prominently throughout, more so than on any previous album. But there is such depth to the sonic sound that it’s not enough to get stuck on the heavy aspect. Synths are constantly bubbling in the background and occasionally burst through to the fore, and they help to ensure every frequency is perfectly filled by something, but never too much. Fightstar have always crafted albums with great care, the subtle lead guitar work from Alex Westaway has been a feature from the outset, and the twenty four piece orchestra on
Be Human added a grand sense of size to that album. That has been replaced by the synth work here, and the hefty seven string guitar sound just gives a bit of extra beef to push into more metallic territory.
The main drawback to Fightstar’s current circumstance is time, having to fit it around other projects, and this leads to what is the only real fault of the
Behind the Devil’s Back. It could be seen as a testament to the quality on show, but one can feel left wanting just that little bit more, as a few tracks feel like they could have been pushed slightly further, such as “Murder All Over” and “Dive”. It feels presumptuous to say, but these, two of the finest tracks not just on this album but in Fightstar’s entire catalogue, make you want that extra passage or, in the case of “Dive”, the even bigger finale than you thought was coming. The thing is we know that Fightstar are more than capable of building tracks up and up to their full potential as they showed on their older epic tracks like “Mono” and “Follow Me into the Darkness”.
Behind the Devil’s Back feels like an album that only exists because the band members wanted it to make it, the undoubtedly best reason to make music at all. You can feel, as you could on “They Liked You Better When You Were Dead” EP, the energy in the music that comes from that desire and honest intention. It could be a result of limited time or whatever else, but there is the odd moment where it feels as though something is missing which probably stops this album from reaching perfection. That said, everything that’s on the album is virtually there.
