Welcome to the Boolin Tunes Staff Spotlight, a special new segment on the site in which we dive deep into a classic or simply personally beloved album to shine a light on releases that we feel deserve a second glance.
I’ve always found Charlie Simpson to be a particularly fascinating musician. One that seems to have very little interest in the shackles of genre, and tends to venture in wild directions in the pursuit of creative fulfilment. Getting his start and rise to stardom in Pop Rock boy band Busted (a group I was quite fond of in my early years) back in 2000, it quickly became clear that Simpson had other aspirations in mind, when he launched a new project, Fightstar, in 2005, shortly after the untimely demise of Busted that same year.
Quite the antithesis to the Pop-oriented sensibilities of Busted, Fightstar’s initial releases—starting with They Liked You Better When You Were Dead in 2005, bordered more in the realm of Post-Hardcore and Alternative Metal. Sure to be quite the shock to the system for any distraught post-breakup Busted fan that happened to stumble across it, but one that proved to be quite successful for Simpson and co. For around five years, Fightstar continued to put out beloved Post-Hardcore records until 2010, when they too met their end.
Fast-forward to 2014, five years after the band released their (then) final record, Be Human, in 2009. The group announced their return to the stage with a few reunion dates, followed by the news in mid-2015 that they would release a newly recorded album, Behind the Devil’s Back, in October of the same year. Come release, it was quite shocking to see just how drastically heavier this effort was compared to their previous work. A welcome change, as the huge, aggressive and dynamic sound of the record has since become a fan favourite, hinging more on a Deftones-worship sound, mixed masterfully with elements of heavier metalcore (a la a proto-Loathe sound.)
The album’s title track is one of the best examples of this with its huge, ethereal chorus, juxtaposed by its fierce technical riffs and piercing screamed vocals. It proves to be a strong statement as the album’s title track, however the bigger statement, I believe, came in the form of their lead single, “Animal” in mid-2015. Perhaps the largest example of just how much heavier and more dynamic Behind the Devil’s Back was stacked up against their back catalogue, “Animal” features a far more metalcore-oriented sound in the verses than fans had come to expect from the group up to this point. Combine that with a signature anthemic hook, as Simpson emotionally belts out “Kill me now, ‘cause I’m an animal” with his wonderfully unique vocal timbre, and you’ve got a masterfully dynamic recipe for success. Another element on display on both of these tracks that can be seen across the record is the use of tasteful 80s-inspired synth work, likely being a result of group mainstays Alex Westaway (co-vocals, guitar) and Dan Haigh’s (bass) influence from their Synthwave group Gunship. The synths add a fantastically deep feeling to the record’s production, filling almost every track out with equal parts overt and gorgeously atmospheric pads and keys.
Metalcore is no stranger to synthesizers nowadays of course, with bands like Loathe and Kingdom of Giants tastefully inserting quintessentially 80s synth licks into even the heaviest of tunes, but having synth work this tasteful in core is a relatively new revelation. Bar the countless Electronicore acts in the late 2000s and 2010s throwing generic pop synths over breakdowns, Fightstar seem to have been fairly ahead of the curve with this one, carving a new niche that has since taken off in this side of the alternative music scene, but I rarely see them get the credit they deserve for it. Their perceived influence goes further too, with standout track and closer “Dive” sharing a similar structure to something you’d now expect from the likes of Sleep Token or Spiritbox, featuring a sublimely atmospheric sound, rich with synths and vocal layers, bookended by a massive, stank-face-inducing djent breakdown. This isn’t to detract from how good those bands are, in fact quite the opposite, both are two of the most inventive and fun groups in the scene right now. More so that this track truly is something to behold, and shows the absolute best of the dichotomy the band strikes up on the record, effortlessly combining the aggression and the serenity in a way that’s not only often imitated/never replicated in metalcore, but also appeared several years before the ‘boom’ of those genre tropes.
Sadly, just as quickly as Fightstar returned from the aether, they vanished back into it. After the reunion of Busted shortly after the release of the record in late 2015, the band announced they would be going on indefinite hiatus, and haven’t yet returned. Simpson has insisted more Fightstar music is in the works, but only time will tell if those tunes will see the light of day. In any case, I believe this album deserves your time and attention. Make sure check back next time on our Staff Spotlight segment for more retrospectives on albums we think you should give another (or perhaps a first) listen.