Fucked Up - David Comes to Life

  by Paul Waller

published: 8 / 7 / 2011

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Review

So let’s just put this out there shall we, 'Queen Of Hearts' is one of the great punk rock singles of all time with a fantastic video to boot. It contains at least three dramatic hooks that singer Pink Eyes manages to pull off with that gruff, gravel-chewing voice of his as if he were the late, great Kurt Cobain, and then overdrive kicks in as the female vocal lifts the song above the clouds and into another genre all together. This is something new and exciting for the band and me as a fan. The group's potential greatness has begun to blossom with this record that’s for sure. And what’s more surprising is that 'Queen Of Hearts' wasn’t even the band’s first single from it. That was the slightly inferior but still ridiculously triumphant 'A Little Death' which contains the simplest and most uplifting solo I’ve heard in a song all year. I’m sure that most that care will be aware that 'David… 'is a concept album that tells the story of the life of said chap who lived through Thatcherite Britain in the 80’s. It’s not easy to take too much from this story listening to the album even when you begin at the first track and stick with it through to the last, and I don’t want to delve too deep into the concept because I’m still at the early stage of falling in love with this LP and I don’t want to spoil the new discoveries I get from each new listen. It really is one of those rare gems that you come across once in a blue moon. The one thing that annoys me most about Fucked Up though is that they sound so much like Virginia’s Avail that during many points during the album I can close my eyes and I can see Avail playing the songs, tearing them apart on stage and enjoying them just as much. It’s ridiculously uncanny but Fucked Up are far more than just plagiarists. Where Avail would run out of ideas after 2 minutes of versus, choruses and middle eights, Fucked off have the vision to make the whole song a chorus or play songs with no repeating parts at all. Avail were black and white to Fucked Up’s full HD colour. Whereas in the past I never really could digest Fucked Up on their long players (even the universally acclaimed 'The Chemistry oOf Common Life' dipped and dragged for me) here 'David Comes To Life' has in effect turned the band in what they never really wanted to be when they started out; a full on rock band that can function with the best of them. The spirit of punk may fizz through every riff and cackle with every roar but when you come down to basics they are just a band, not the second coming as many mainstream publications would have you believe. Well not quite anyway, but damned close. It’s a crying shame that according to Pink Eyes this will be the final album he releases with the band. It took time sure but it would seem with this album the band have finally mastered the art of the full length LP. It’s one you can listen to again and again.

Track Listing:-

1 Let Her Rest
2 Queen Of Hearts
3 Under My Nose
4 The Other Shoe
5 Turn The Season
6 Running On Nothing
7 Remember My Name
8 A Slanted Tone
9 Serve Me Right
10 Truth I Know
11 Life In Paper
12 Ship Of Fools
13 A Little Death
14 I Was There
15 Inside A Frame
16 The Recursive Girl
17 One More Night
18 Lights Go Up

Label Links:-

http://www.matadorrecords.com/
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https://www.facebook.com/MatadorRecord
http://matadorrecords.tumblr.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/matadorre
https://www.instagram.com/matadorrecor