One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours

After the fantastic "They Liked You Better When You Were Dead" E.P and "Grand Unification" as a debut album, i was always hoping to see Fightstars second album become equal to their earlier work in brilliance. Because Fightstar are quality songwriters as a whole band i expected nothing less than it to be a fantastic piece of work. Knowing this would be a very hard task i awaited to see what One Day Son contained.
After one listen One Day Son certainly put up to the challenge as been as good as previous material.

The first single "We Apologise for Nothing" (although not the first to be heard by fans as 99 was released with a video in early june as a present for impatient fightstar lovers)is an immediate return to classic fightstar, epic Post- Hardcore which always lives up to the american take on the genre Thrice,Thursday e.t.c with a catchy chorus and riff as well as both charlie and al on vocals.
Hearing this however before the album is no way to tell what is instore upon one day son. A perfect mixture of Post-Hardcore and Metal riffs. Piano, Screaming and Female vocals makes the album a near on 46 minutes of perfection. The album was written and polished off in a tough period of Charlies life, this is portrayed in the lyrics of songs "Deathcar" and "Unfamiliar Ceilings". This is another reason i believe why the album is heading in so many different directions, the band have simply matured, and as a result written a brilliant record. Some people have criticised the elements of other bands in fightstars previous work especially deftones as a source because they are charlies favourite band. However nothing is stolen at all from other bands,far from it.The album just equals deftones style in one or two songs namely, "Amaze Us" and "One Day Son" and also relates back to the bands previous work if anything (Build and Army and Paint Your Target certainly would fit into this record without a hitch).

As for the songs i shall give each a mark out of 10. These are fair marks as i consider myself a very devoted listener:

99 - a good opener, however far from best song on the album and was suprising when first heard earlier in the year. 2nd half of the song much better than the 1st provides an excellent climax. Grows and grows from first listen. 8/10

We Apologise For Nothing - Excellent catchy song, good choice for first single off the album. Pure Fightstar. 9/10

Floods - Brilliant Piano intro followed by stomping heavy riff and good vocal work here from charlie. Equal best song on the album. Pure example of fightstars maturity change. 10/10

One Day Son - Another of the best songs on the album, back to the post-hardcore roots. Amazing song structure especially intro and chorus and the violins in the middle 8. Single Material 10/10

Deathcar - Equal best song on the album. Kick you in the face intro with a metal riff which slayer would be proud of and screaming UnderOath or Alexisonfire could easily compare to. Turns into a beautiful song with the verse and chorus, relating to chinese homeless people been killed in vans for food and charlies breakup with his girlfriend. Essential listening, deservedly already on the RESIDENT EVIL 3: Extinction filmsoundtrack.Wouldn't fancy been in the centre of a moshpit when the songs begins..... 10/10

I am the Message - Brilliant mixed vocals from Al and Charlie over an obvious but quality fightstar riff. The piano in the Huge chorus oncemore reflects Fightstars transition into a much more complex band and puts the icing on the cake as another success upon the album. 9/10

You and I - Complex Vocal work throughout by the band, with female voices in the outro of the song. Certainly an excellent addition to the album with a mighty chorus which is the key to the song. Although the middle 8 is a wise direction to keep the song going before the impressive outro.Not to be expected upon tour. 9/10

Amaze Us - The song certainly did me when i first heard the intro. Although a distinct likeness to deftones in parts a very mighty song. Again showing the different directions fightstar are heading in with its variation from metal to post-hardcore. The screaming after the 2nd verse is easily on quality par with killswitch engage and leads into an excellent final chorus and outro. Single material indeed. 10/10

H.I.P (enough) - The chorus saves the song. Although the prechorus bassline by dan haigh is one of a kind and the middle 8 onceagain brillian. Still worthy of an album place though and to say its one of the worst offerings on the album shows how much a masterpiece the album really is. 7/10

Tannhauser Gate - From the opening doublebass of Omars kit to the closeing screaming of charlies vocals over a megametal riff, three minutes and twenty seconds later, only one word can describe WOW!!. A perfect example of fightstar tackling their influences but equalling them in quality. Imense shared vocals in each verse from Charlie and Al, and as for the chorus the screaming of simpsons voice relates back to Build and Army in a tremendous way! Simply ment to be played live. A huge success. 10/10

Our Last Common Ancestor - Dreary in many parts but still nevertheless a good song with a well sung chorus. Overall worst song on the album. 7/10

Unfamilliar Ceilings - A masterpiece. Not heavy in the slightest but a ballad of pure vocal class with a catchy guitar addition. The female vocals illustrate the pain of charlies breakup, as certainly do the lyrics. Some might say a weird ending to the album, i say a beautiful ending to a beautiful album. 9/10

If you can't buy the album for some reason,listen to these songs and the prevention not enabling you to purchase the album should just be ignored.

We Apologise For Nothing
Floods
One Day Son
Deathcar
Amaze Us
Tannhauser Gate

If Fightstars next record equals the brilliance of this album and their earlier work then the band are soon to become proper legends.

JCS

I bought the first Fightstar album, purely because i was interested to see if 'the goodlooking one from busted' could actually pull off the transition from pop pin-up to credible rock act. I had heard Zane Lowe mention that it was actually quite good and thought that was a good recomendation and so decided to take a punt.
At first listen all i really liked was ashes and maybe paint your target in a guilty pleasure kind of way.
I then listened to it a couple more times and within a few listens discovered that there was actually a lot more under the surface than the initial quick once over would have you believe. Grand Unification is without doubt one of the best albums that came out that year and is always in my car stereo (even now).

One Day Son, on the first listen was to say the least, a little of a disapointment. The only tracks to my taste being Deathcar and Tanhauser Gate.
However , I endevoured to persevere and sure enough, by the end of the third listen i was actually very into over half of the tracks on the album.

So whats it like? Well, there is the sense that this is a true attempt at a 'grown-up' album with a much more anthemnic sound than the previous one and with the band clearly more confident with thier instruments and each other. The sound is big and powerful for the most part with immaculate timing on the start-stop crunchy riffs that characterise the overall sound of this album.

You can actually hear who the infuences are as you progress through the tracks. Starting with some Foo fighters for the first 2 tracks they then slide into strong hints of Muse with the piano intro and prog-rock feel of the third and fourth tracks. Track 5 sees them go back to the Deftones-esque sound of Deathcar which is also repeated again with the brilliant Tanhauser Gate.

Overall a brilliant album. However, the unfogivably bad final track is a crime that would have ruined the album if it wasnt so easy to ignore in the face of the rest of the overwhelmingly good songs.

buy it.

Lacking the first albums keen interest by Charlie's bushy eyebrow adoring Busted fans, this record was always going to have to stand up on the merit of its songwriting. Thats not to say that 'Grand Unification' was a bad album, with immediate killers like 'Paint Your Target' it showed how much distance had been put between the jangly pop of Busted and the introspective rock of Fightstar.
This album sees them move further away from instant pleasure, and towards more mature songwriting. Don't get me wrong, if you like the crunch of guitar and jackhammer drumming you are well catered for here. It's just like they have outgrown the teenage fumbles looking to get down to it as quick as possible, and have learnt that foreplay isn't just for grownups, the buildup can be just as enjoyable.
Charlie obviously isn't afraid to alienate fans in the course of persuing his musical path as demonstrated by the move from Busted. Although the musical style here is a subtle shift from the previous album, it may none the less push his audience away a little further. This may be a move for the better however, after all there are other members of the band, and as displayed here are equaly as important to the sound. Hopefully this record could be the one to see them break from the 'band with Charlie from Busted' tag and allow them to stand on the strenghs of the songs on display here.