This Album is Fucked Up (Insert Comedy Drum Roll Here)
I have no qualms in seeming pretentious when I say I bought this album on vinyl and listened to the whole thing as soon as it came out. All one hour seventeen minutes and forty eight seconds of it. But what's wrong with that? After all, that's how Fucked Up got their start, releasing 7 inch singles and mini EP's by the dozen. Yet when you listen to their first few singles like "No Pasaran" or "Police," then listen to "David Comes to Life," you can tell they've grown. Fucked Up are a musically mature band.
How do I know they've matured? Maybe it's the fact that they've been able to keep that Hardcore Punk vibe and still create some of the most compelling and beautifully written music I've heard in a long time. Or maybe it's because "David Comes to Life" is a freakin' concept album. That's right, a Hardcore Punk concept album. I believe I have just blown your mind. And to show you they mean business, when they write a concept album, Fucked up really go above and beyond. Just before releasing "David Comes to Life," the band wrote, recorded and released an album (only on vinyl mind you) for Record Store Day 2011 called "David's Town" which is a compilation of fake songs by fake bands who come from the fictional town that "David Comes to Life" is set in. That's one dedicated band for you.
When I say Fucked Up is a Hardcore Punk band, I mean that in a very loose sense of the term. The band itself relentlessly struggles to remain un-classified in any one genre, but those tropes are there. The punch and growl of Father Damien's vocals, Jonah Falco's stripped down yet complex drum beats and a heady attack of intricate guitar parts sound like they SHOULD be Hardcore Punk but seem to have transcended the whole notion of genre altogether.
"Hello my name is David / your name is Veronica / let's be together till the stars go out." Yes that's from the first song of the album, 'Queen of Hearts,' and yes as most concept albums are, this one deals with love and loss. It may seem a hackneyed concept but Fucked Up handle it well, not pushing their ideas too far while still dealing with the concept in their own style. Almost an epic, told through four theatrical acts and 18 songs, the main character "David" comes from Bydesdale Spa, UK, where he works at a light bulb factory. David proceeds to fall in love with "Veronica" who almost immediately dies, leaving David to spend the rest of the album depressed. There's more to it than that, I don't want to spoil the story for you but various things also happen which throw "Veronica's" death into question.
Anyway, concept aside, "David Comes to Life" is a very accomplished and artistic album and one which I'm confident will be branded a classic in years to come.