Posted on: November 27, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

This is the style of pop-punk that should be getting some notoriety, instead of the boy-bandish crap that is Busted. Nice, chunky guitars and high-pitched vocals, well-done, in the vein of early Unwritten Law and Green Day. K8’s vocal style is immediately reminiscent of both the lead vocalist of Switchblade Kittens and the aforementioned Billie Joe (from Green Day). The production on “Nothing New” is perfect, neither holding back the full fury of the guitars nor sounding too compressed. Instead of just being a two-track pony, The Fight are actually impressive in terms of their instrumentation – on a track like :Moved On”, Matt’s bass line and the drumming of Jak put the track into a Pennywise-esque mindset, without sapping any of the distinctive voice of K8. Each track blasts through without error and in virtually the blink of an eye. The Fight’s strongest suit is the creation of a truly original sound out of all the varied forms of the last twenty-five years of punk music.

What would be exciting would be to see The Fight live. While their studio sound is full of energy and pep, the sharper edges of K8’s voice would add more soul to a sound that is fairly antiseptic for being so fuck-authority and fuck-you . This may be due to the overall solid production of this disc by Neal Avron (who single-handedly neutered both SR-71 and New Found Glory from punk acts to acts devoid of any content and edge). The guitar work and cohesive sound of The Fight are two of the strongest suits on this disc, but as “Nothing New” continues, the idea becomes stronger and stronger that perhaps the name of this album should have been “Nothing New Since The First Track”.

Some tracks portend better things for the band, such as “No More Legend”, but the bland distortion and cheesy guitar lines on the track hold it from achieving more. Each proceeding track on “Nothing New” is just another imperceptible shift in the formula that The Fight used to create the one “average” track, and by “Mommy’s Little Solider”, one is just hoping and wishing for something new. The Fight is an impressive band, but there is just so little in the way of spontaneity on this disc. If The Fight wants to call themselves punk, perhaps they should stop spinning the same tired yarn (14 times along on this disc, who knows how many demos didn’t make it).

Top Tracks: Housewreck, Can’t Be Bothered

Rating: 4.8/10

The Fight – Nothing New Since Rock ‘N’ Roll / 2004 Ashley Music / 14 Tracks / http://www.thefightmusic.com / http://www.repossessionrecords.com / Reviewed 31 January 2005

Leave a Comment