There are very few bands that ruin their chances of mainstream radio play before they’ve even played a note. Unfortunately with a name like Fucked Up that comes with the territory. The Canadian punks have been away for a while, with lead singer Damian ‘pink eyes’ Abraham calling time to focus on his domestic duties closer to home, so the world of music was pleasantly surprised when Glass Boys was announced to the masses.
With stargazing indie style musicianship followed up with crushing hardcore vocals, the band’s third effort takes the lessons learned on their previous records, files the edges and leaves the listener with a sonic experience they won’t soon forget. Taking cues from My Bloody Valentine, first track Echo Boomer saunters out of the tracks before diving head first into punk goodness.
More technically efficient than The Ramones and louder than every act performing at this year’s Glastonbury (Metallica included), they still manage to produce some pure pop moments. ‘Sun Glass’ has a sing-along (shout-along?) hook which burrows into your skull while album highlight ‘Paper the House’ features lead guitar Albert Hammond Jr would be proud of.
Unfortunately the uncompromising, unrelenting approach of Glass Boys does eventually start to take its toll. In fact the only form of respite included on the album (and I use the word respite loosely) comes in the form of ‘Led by Hand’ which features some of the only clean, melodic vocals on the record.
But who picks up a Fucked Up record hoping for a ballad? Nobody! You pick it up wanting your brain melted, and the brutality of ‘DET’ combined with the majesty of title track “Glass Boys” delivers that in spades. It’s a record which will show its true colours performed live – a feat I cannot wait to see. Obviously the flyers outside the venue might be problematic because of the slightly blue language, and how will they manage to sum the band’s sound up on one sheet of A4?
I suppose it’s a testament to the bands uniqueness that their sound is so hard to describe? Post punk? Pop metal? Their sound manages to escape the vocabulary of the entire Oxford English Dictionary. Now that… that’s fucked up.
Glass Boys is released out now on Matador Records
Alex Jones
@alex_jonze
Alex Jones
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