After playing a 12-hour-long gig in New York, releasing a cover of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ with members of Vampire Weekend, TV On The Radio and the Wu Tang Clan, and getting away with being played on MTV with one of the most outrageous names in the industry, what could Toronto-based hardcore sextet Fucked Up possibly do next to top such accomplishments? Well, on this occasion, they’ve gone for the less than small feat of recording a punk rock opera. But this is no ‘American Idiot’ – this is the real deal. Split into four acts, the album tells the odd and convoluted story of our hero David, supposedly set against the backdrop of our own United Kingdom during the 1970s. However, if you find yourself struggling to follow this rather elaborate tale, you’ll be pleased to hear that, lyrics and vocals aside, this is an extremely well-structured composition where the music itself is brimming with raw emotion, telling a story the whole way.
At 18 tracks and 79 minutes in length, ‘David Comes to Life’ is far from an easy listen and may prove to be a bit much for your average punk and hardcore fan. However, for the most part, it’s an absolute joy to experience. As we’ve come to expect from Fucked Up on their previous two albums, ‘Hidden World’ and ‘The Chemistry of Common Life’, the two-minute moshpit anthems usually associated with this genre have been binned in favour of drawn-out, edge-of-your-seat build-ups. In fact, if it wasn’t for frontman Damian Abraham’s ever-present gravelly yells, you could barely describe ‘David Comes to Life’ as punk or hardcore at all. Continuing with the tone set on 2008’s Polaris-winning ‘The Chemistry of Common Life’, Fucked Up weave a mixture of atmosphere and psychedelia into the chaos. This time around, however, the musical progression of the band is even more noticeable than before.
As you’d expect from a group with three guitar players, the six-piece manage to create an impressively large, layered sound that merges a number of genres including artistic indie, grandiose rock’n’roll and straightforward punk in 18 four or five-minute packages. The female vocals heard frequently throughout ‘David Comes to Life’ blend surprisingly well with Damian’s hardcore roars and help to give the album the ultimate operatic feel.
Anyone unfamiliar with Fucked Up’s work to date may want to check out their earlier albums before opting to take on ‘David Comes to Life’. However, when you do finally get around to paying a visit to the band’s third offering, you’re unlikely to be disappointed. While none of the tracks here particularly stand out from the rest, as a body of work, it’s a magnificent and successfully-ambitious effort. In such a rarely inventive genre, Fucked Up may well be the punk band of the future. But on their continuing shock-laden journey, what can we expect from them next?
Stereoboard Rating: 8/10
‘David Comes to Life’ is due for release on Monday 6th June.
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At 18 tracks and 79 minutes in length, ‘David Comes to Life’ is far from an easy listen and may prove to be a bit much for your average punk and hardcore fan. However, for the most part, it’s an absolute joy to experience. As we’ve come to expect from Fucked Up on their previous two albums, ‘Hidden World’ and ‘The Chemistry of Common Life’, the two-minute moshpit anthems usually associated with this genre have been binned in favour of drawn-out, edge-of-your-seat build-ups. In fact, if it wasn’t for frontman Damian Abraham’s ever-present gravelly yells, you could barely describe ‘David Comes to Life’ as punk or hardcore at all. Continuing with the tone set on 2008’s Polaris-winning ‘The Chemistry of Common Life’, Fucked Up weave a mixture of atmosphere and psychedelia into the chaos. This time around, however, the musical progression of the band is even more noticeable than before. 
