Fucked Up - David Comes to Life

Really? A hardcore record that is nearly an hour an 20 minutes long? WHY? I feel like I'm at work knowing I'm about to review such a long fucking release. It's actually just 'The Decline' covered 4 times in different styles with different instrumentation. Actually, that would be worse. If I ever have to listen to 'The Decline' again, due to some asshole thinking it's the PERFECT SONG to play on our way to the next date on tour, I might shoot myself in the head. Which is appropriate, considering the rapture is today and all.

So yeah, Fucked Up. I don't know much about Fucked Up. I know they're Canadian. I know people like them. I know a lot of people don't like the vocalist's singing...but that's probably my favorite part of the band. The instrumentals are cool, and definitely weird, and for the most part not even remotely hardcore. They're more of a post-hardcore band whose singer never caught on to how typical vocalists would perform the genre. Thank god.

So, how exactly does a minimalist reviewer approach an 18 track 'hardcore' record? I'm not really sure. I'm listening to it. And I'm wanting to say stuff about it, but I'm afraid I'll end up saying too many things about 1 song, and then realize there are 17 more that deserve the same treatment. But, to be fair, not all of them deserve the treatment. "Under My Nose" and "The Other Shoe" are some of the cooler songs on the release, despite the latter being slower than Valve when it comes to putting out Half-Life 2: Episode 3. Seriously, this is probably my first mention of video games in the blog...in relation to myself at least, and it's because of the velocity of the situation. Valve needs to die in a fucking fire if they don't release more HL2 episodes. It's bullshit. Anyway, Fucked Up. Awesome band.

So basically, if you were to use this record to soundtrack anything in your life. It'd probably work well for biking in a hilly ghetto, or even a hilly riverside neighborhood. It'd also work for a nice driving scene in a movie about punk subculture and underground bands on tour. I mean, you could probably soundtrack people fucking with it, and there wouldn't be too many complaints. I have to be honest, I have no idea why anyone would have a problem with this vocalist. He has this perfect down-trodden, yelly voice and I love it. It sounds like he caught his best friend fucking his dog or something. He sounds pretty hurt over the whole situation too. It works so well. You should also be aware of the fact that "Turn the Season" is awesome as fuck too.

So is "Running On Nothing".

So, to continue living up to my minimalistic standards of doing barely anything and trying to get away with it, I'm probably going to end this review within this paragraph or the next. This band is like if Crimpshine was made years later. And no, I don't mean Fifteen. This band is what happens when people do shit the right way. This album is what happens when you find the perfect mixture of hardcore vocals and instrumentation that takes a lot of effort and a lot of love for Quicksand. So, go listen to this album. You have no reason not to. You have the internet. You have the world.

-Idle

Idle and the Bear facebook.