Album Review: Fightstar - Be Human (Deluxe Edition)

Fightstar's latest album is given the deluxe edition re-release treatment, and for those who missed 'Be Human' first time round last April (like me) are set to discover Fightstar are actually a band worth talking about at last.

With 'Be Human' you see a band who heavily incorporate strings into their British Alt-Rock structure, which is superb to hear with 'War Machine' and 'Calling On All Stations' being fine examples. As Audrey Riley's orchestral work adds another element to Fightstar's fiery, upbeat rock.

Elsewhere 'A City On Fire' (a new song for this re-release) and 'The English Way' shows the bands straight-up, speaker-blasting rock is in full force. With the latter showing the bands use of duel vocals in a good light.

The whole original released tracks show a band who have pushed themselves creatively, with 'Mercury Summer', the very Cure-like 'Give Me the Sky' and 'Tonight We Burn' proving to be favourable. Whilst the new songs back up this statement, especially 'Mvua Nyeusi' and '28k Resolution'.

On top of that a 45 minute live acoustic DVD is included, which has 8 songs (including 2 covers) and is a refreshing take on the bands older material (see 'Palahniuk's Laughter' and '99'). Overall is clearly shows the bands growth of songwriters and musicians, which can only be a good thing.

For those who may have doubted them or had lost interest in Fightstar, 'Be Human' will more than likely re-ignite this, as it is a release that shows progression and maturity.

4/5

Be Human (Deluxe Edition) by Fightstar is available now on Search and Destroy Records.

Fightstar on MySpace.

Sean Reid