Fucked Up
David Comes to Life
(Matador)
Who could have guessed that a band named Fucked Up would have the ambition, let alone the stamina, for a 78-minute concept album? On their follow-up to 2008’s breakthrough The Chemistry of Common Life, the Toronto sextet create a four-act punk opera with more scope than Green Day’s chart-toppers. The story, like most concept albums, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense – something to do with some dude ruminating on post-apocalyptic life in the late ’70s. He turns out to be a totally unreliable narrator, but who cares? The excellent David Comes to Life‘s guts are the spiraling and surprisingly melodic blasts of super-wide punk that fuel the 18 songs. Frontman Damian Abraham growls over chunky guitar riffs, psychedelic feedback squalls, and some of the most epic sounds you’ll hear all year.
EXCURSIONS OF A POP RENEGADE 