Three years doesn’t seem like a long time, although if Worcester’s FIGHTS AND FIRES have proved anything, it’s that a band can develop, mature and create a blistering thirty minute full-length swelling aggressively with intimidating riffs and mammoth chorus onslaughts in just as much time. Drawing parallels to groups such as As We Sink!, the raw talent of the quintet is chaotic and passionate to the core, and their unstoppable attitude is one of which many look only to aspire to.
Infectious and deadly, ‘My Rusty’ is aggressive hardcore punk stripped down to its most basic of roots and in turn outshines many of the group’s peers relentlessly hitting the toilet circuit at present. Riotous and unruly, ‘Shake IT’ is riff-central with ferocious blasts of energy littering the jagged beat behind. Despite citing influences ranging from At The Drive-In to Rites Of Spring, Fights And Fires have their own distinctive sound in their own right, and it’s this individuality that shines throughout the record – notably in the crushing stampede of ‘Dirty Mouth’.
‘Death Adder’ is terrorising and angular, retaining all levels of intensity and projecting them tenfold. Closing track ‘Better Dreams’ is simply exceptional; as the fierce yet heartfelt vocals violently pierce through the heavy veil of snotty rhythm, their menacingly vicious tone leaves the listener suitably on edge. From start to finish, ‘Proof That Ghosts Exist’ is just as it’s title suggests – malevolent, brutal and enraged, and for Fights And Fires, it’s perfect.
OLIVIA JAREMI