Fighting Fiction

Fighting Fiction (2012)

Rich Cocksedge

Fighting Fiction hails from the South Coast of England, Brighton to be exact, and the regional accents are there for all to hear on this, the band's self-titled debut. In fact, you could imagine the band being fronted by a younger Billy Bragg as both the vocals and the lyrics seem to have the ingredients of what you would expect from the elder statesman of protest music in the U.K. There is also a bit of a Bruce Springsteen influence to be found too, and although it pains me to say it (as I have never been the biggest fan), it's hard to ignore the effect the Clash might have had on these four guys. The one thing that is for certain is that this is punk rock, albeit of the more accessible variety.

Fighting Fiction's music swings is a grand mix of acoustic and electric guitars with neither really taking over and this approach works extremely well with the first two tracks "Amazing Grace" and "Rock n Roll is Dead And its Corpse Is For Sale" opening the album with much aplomb and providing a strong introductory salvo.

Although musically it's nothing particularly new, there is obviously a heartfelt and honest quality to be found here, with the band intent on taking up the cudgel against the nastier elements of our society, as evident in the ska-tinged "No Room In The Inn," during which right wing fascists are the band's target. There are a number of moments when I think that Fighting Fiction perhaps has more in common with Crazy Arm than any of the other bands currently plying their trade in the U.K., and "No Room In The Inn" is the song that stands out in that respect, given both bands' predilection for not letting fascism go unnoticed. This commonality is heard in some of the guitar work on "Turning Rebellion Into Money," as well as within the lyrics.

As it often the way, I've returned to this album after a few days of not listening to it and low and behold it is surprising at how many of the songs are already rooted in my brain and are easy to recall as soon as the tracks begin. I say surprising because initial listens didn't seem to leave me with anything other than a couple of tracks that were of the immediate variety. This obviously proves that Fighting Fiction is a grower rather than a straight off the bat hit and these kind of records often have more longevity for me, so this could well prove to be one that hangs around for quite a while.

This is a good album and one cannot help but be impressed at some of the lyrical content here which is clearly well thought out and delivered and the band certainly has a knack for writing some good catchy tunes with which to dispense those messages.