Fights & Fires – Future Plans And The Things That Ruin Them | EP Review

Melodic punk that straddles the line between aggression, intensity and emotion.

Formed in Worcester in 2008, Fights & Fires are a five piece that deal in rock and roll infused melodic punk. Their latest release, Future Plans And The Things That Ruin Them is a short but sweet five track salvo, written throughout lockdown and recorded in summer 2021 after just a day of rehearsals, the first time the band had gathered together in person for more than a year

The EP readily invokes the energetic chaos of the likes of The Bronx and Rocket From The Crypt, both namechecked as influences by the band themselves. Shitty Year is a prime example of these innspirations coming to the fore, with it’s staccato riffs punctuated by snarled, catchy vocal hooks, it’s title and lyrical content putting forward a simplistic but certainly agreeable proposition.

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Vocalist Philip Cox has stated that the record deals thematically with hope and optimism in the face of a world that seems to be crumbling, the subject matter dealing with overcoming hard times and struggles, and for all of their in your face energy and passion, Fights and Fires are equally content to inhabit a more vulnerable and introspective space, with Cox’s usually commanding voice being tremulous and seemingly on the edge of breaking on more than one occasion. In the EP’s most emotive moments it is reminiscent of The Wonder Years, The Menzingers and Spanish Love Songs, though rooted lyrically in bleak British suburbia rather than Americana.

The contrast between rip-roaring, uptempo punk replete with sing-along choruses and the more reflective passages is certainly enough to hold attention over the EPs duration, and it is to it’s credit that the tracks themselves have been trimmed of any and all fat. Future Plans And The Things that Ruin Them is a rewarding, if lean offering that is hopefully just a warm up lap in advance of a creative resurgence in the wake of the pandemic, rather than a culmination of the ideas formulated over the last two years.

Score: 7/10

Future Plans And The Things That Ruin Them will be released on the 18th February through Lockjaw Records, you can purchase it here.

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