ready...set...fight...

Fightstar
"Grand Unification"
(Trustkill)

Listening to Fightstar's "Grand Unification" is one of the hardest things I've had to do in recent months, which also includes taking the GREs for grad school. Fightstar, in short, is Atreyu, Dashboard Confessional, Hoobastank, Nickelback, The Fray and whatever other contemporary rock bands that are in heavy rotation on VH-1 and Fuse. They're a generic rock band with breakdowns and chugging. I started listening to the record thinking, "Well it's on Trustkill, so it has to at least be okay." It was not. It was bad. Disastrous. "Adventures of Ford Fairlane" bad.

Fightstar, at the very least, sound like very competent musicians and their singer can actually carry a tune. Unfortunately, they're pretty much a mixed bag, finding influence in anything and everything and in the end, it's just one giant convoluted mess of an album.