AWmusic

The Chemistry of Common Life maybe the kind of post-hardcore record Agnostic Front dreamed of making in 1988, but I don’t know if it’s necessarily the record Fucked Up dreamed about making in 2008. With its seemingly misplaced keyboard, bongos and synthesizers (that wouldn’t be misplaced in an early 70’s Genesis album) Fucked Up’s attempt sonically to take punk rock to the next level. But you’ll need a bit more than a few bells and whistles to start a revolution. And a revolution is what Fucked Up is about.

It’s impossible not to slightly dissect an image when a band chooses a purposely offensive moniker. It’s impossible further not to dissect the grander intentions of a band when they trash the stage at MTV, not once but twice. Both times causing the network to prematurely end the groups performance. While both these destructive televised glimpses of the band are clearly electrifying (and exactly the stab of adrenaline post-millennium MTV needs) it’s the now-modern-classic-MTV-bathroom-performance that actually reveals a moment where the ambiguous Fucked Up are left as slightly transparent with their possible true intentions left dripping to a wall.
This of course is when “Kurt RIP” is spray painted on to the washroom tile.
While I’m positive irony must have been in tact, it’s hard not to see the words as Fucked Up’s glowing mantra, following what every famous-underground-mainstream group has done in the past: not just piss people off but piss people off in large numbers.

So this is where things get interesting…While Fucked Up appear to be doing everything in their power to say “fuck you” to the media, they’re actually playing the anti-marketing-marketing card (thanks Mr. Hicks)…
This isn’t a problem at all.
If anything this is what our current mainstream music scene needs.
The problem is…
These boys clearly are striving for that delicate blend of punk of pop, soft and loud, the Raw Power or Nevermind of our generation, a hardcore record that may even entice a regular radio listener to buy it. And while The Chemistry of Common Life flirts with these ideas, it’s ultimately just the type of record that will only push hardcore bands/listeners into new ways of thinking about their music, leaving the average listener without much to cling to. The album just isn’t listenable enough, for all the ambition caked in.

This is just one of those rare cases where the hype of the band clearly doesn’t match the strength of the music. What this actually means? Smart Band.

Not that the album is completely a wash. The strongest portion of the album oddly enough occurs at the end of the disc with the last three tracks: Twice Born, Looking for God, and the title track. If the rest of the album could have matched the epicness held in the last 15 minutes, this would have been the hardcore record of the decade.

So while Fucked Up will definitely cause many bands out there to open their eyes to what’s possible in music, it probably won’t cause many new listeners to open their ears.

3.1 out of 5
i.e. Listen to it, but don’t rest the future of punk/hardcore on it

Looking For God by Fucked Up
Twice Born by Fucked Up

Tags: album