Fucked Up - The Chemistry Of Common Life

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5...according to our Brian on Thu 09 Oct, 2008.

Wanted to get into Fucked Up cos they look like such a smashing bunch of folks. I tried 'Hidden World' and thought someone was vomiting nails into my brains. I did have a hangover though. So I'm back with 'The Chemistry of Common Life'. This is MUCH more like it. There's a turbocharged psychedelic squall ricocheting through some seriously adrenalised fuzzy hardcore punk and a screaming man who sounds a little narked about summat. I think the appeal of this band is that they're uniting all these dissaffected kids into, not only hardcore, but hard rock, stoner/psych stuff and noisy indie rock. There's a chugging abandon to these songs, a forcefulness but a spiritual unity & freedom. They're really stretching the boundaries and no doubt pissing the purists right off but heck! This is adventurous rock for a new generation and now I get it, I really, really like it. There's some great riffs and colliding, spiky chords cascading all over the shop, a kind of compressed ball of dynamic energy lurching out of the speakers, the tonsil shredding, guttural roar and the flailing drums are hugely exciting. Like the production loads too, not too polished and conceptual like the last album, just dirty, imaginative future rock for all ages to enjoy. So glad I've clicked with them after the initial bout of utter perplexion. I'm impressed!

Known by bizarre aliases, the band employ creative methods of spreading information & misinformation, spurning MySpace and a band website in favour of Wikipedia and an oblique blog. Basic facts are constantly in flux.
Some things have become clear during the course of the band's early existence. Their musical influences are varied and deep: singer Pink Eyes' record collection is one of the more noteworthy assemblages of independent vinyl in Canada. The band has a deep affection for twee English pop, while the live shows are theatrical events. Fans caused thousands of dollars of damage at MTV Canada's studios during a performance of the appropriately titled ‘Baiting The Public’. Attention follows F*cked Up like a sick puppy, whether from a midnight bridge concert at SXSW that turned into a police riot, or a split single with an allegedly fascist band that required clarification at a Toronto press conference.
F*cked Up's new album, ‘The Chemistry Of Common Life’, is an expansive epic about the mysteries of birth, death, and the origins of life (and re-living). Merging elements of hardcore songwriting with up to seventy tracks of guitars, organs, winds and vocals, (including eighteen guitars on the first single, the fatalistic ‘No Epiphany’), the music remains iconoclastic and startling, with Pink Eyes' vocals front and centre. Guest musicians, of course, abound, notably gorgeous female voices such as Brooklyn's Vivian Girls and Toronto's Katie Stelmanis.
Though F*cked Up remain punks at heart, they have created a great, weird, heavy record that stubbornly sticks in your brain and your heart.
•“(Fucked Up) make hardcore’s possibilities seem exciting once more.” – Uncut.

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