You have to hand it to Fightstar; whether their songs are good or bad, they still incite more opinionated drivel from the music press than a thousand other bands of their ilk.  So as promised, here is the opinionated drivel surrounding their new single “Floods”!

Firstly, let’s start with the good stuff.  “Floods” is basically a good song - the Muse-style piano, the growing stature of Charlie Simpson as a vocalist, the omitted screaming that has marred a song or two of their back catalogue and the brave move to depart to more acoustic ground for this offering, all suggest a band progressing and evolving.  

However, read between the lines and you can’t help feeling preached to.  You see, “Floods” is about, well, floods (it is used in an imminent, apocalyptic two-part mini-series about London battling global warming), and was inspired by Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”.  Now, whilst this is a worthy and notable subject matter, last single “Deathcar” was written after front man Simpson saw a news article about Chinese death row prisoners being simultaneously transported, sliced open and volunteered as transplant donors for the benefit of the sick and ill!  So “Floods” feels a little too obvious and contrived, like we’ve had the morality and current affairs lesson for the week, bring on the ROCK!  Musically, it is let down on this release by a relatively weak “Floatation Therapy”, but is redeemed by an instrumental which, without the sermon from Simpson, actually makes you appreciate the good bits again.

Whilst it is commendable for a rock band to a) change their sound so dramatically and b) address a subject of global importance, you end up removing the CD hoping that Simpson doesn’t watch Bambi on DVD next otherwise we will have a song about the fur trade and unlawful killing of doe-eyed mammals on our hands.  I want my rock music to rock!  I want my rock music to be from the heart and from experience, not about whether I should recycle or not!

Let us know your views on Floods

Track Listing

Floods
Song One
Floods (Instrumental)
Floods video