Fucked Up – David Comes to Life
By: Cassandra
“It’s all been worth it.”
Rating: 
David Comes to Life is Toronto hardcore band Fucked Up’s third full-length release. It is a “rock opera” that follows the albums namesake David through trials and tribulations, love, loss, and learning. The 78-minute opera is broken down into four acts representing the various aspects of David’s story.
The album begins with “Let Her Rest” an instrumental number that starts with a playful theme that changes as the song progresses, eventually falling in along distorted guitars just in time for “Queen of Hearts” to start. The story begins with David, a factory worker in England, meeting a girl named Veronica. The two fall in love and begin formulating plans to cast off their former, apparently undesirable lives. Sonically the song reflects the story being told. The music is happy and hopeful, eager and urgent, David has found Veronica, and from the get go, you’re on board rooting for them. The album’s second track “Under My Nose” discusses how the couple feels their lives have been changed since meeting each other. Each day seems easier to wake up to, and a realization that “it’s all been worth it” is made. Now, I don’t want to spoil the story for you, but from here songs hint at some unavoidable tragedy, and follow David through bereavement, questioning, and an eventual realization and acceptance of what has happened. Clearly a lot of time and thought was put into this album. In a time when writing about your boyfriend and your cat will apparently do, it is refreshing to see this kind of detail and passion put into a story.
Musically, the album draws from many genres. It is a very calculated balance of shoe gaze and punk, with noisy, drone guitars set below screaming with the occasional addition of pristine female vocals. This creates an alluring contrast, and an all-around enjoyable sound. The album is impressively emotional, evoking sadness and anger with an underlying sense of conquest. I frequently find myself listening to the album thrusting one fist in the air; marking the beat with my best hardcore face on. I mean this in the most sincere way possible; it just gets you going. This is the kind of album to listen to first thing in the morning to get you pumped up for the rest of the day.
This is undoubtedly my favorite album to come out thus far this year. I love this album. It caters to hardcore fans and finds room for the indie kids as well. David Comes to Life is beautiful, powerful, and an all-around phenomenal album.
Buy it on iTunes – 
