The Year of Fucked Up (Again)

Since the release of 2012’s many-a-year-end list topper David Comes to Life, fans have been wondering whether we’d seen the best, and possibly the last, of Fucked Up, and worried that maybe it was time to prepare for the almost inevitable downfall. The sixth in their now nearly 10-year-old Zodiac Series, Year of the Dragon answers that question once and for all: Fucked Up is here to stay and they’re bringing our heads banging right along with them. Springtime may be the season for pop punk, but Fucked Up wants to make sure we don’t head into the sunshine all full of smiles and rainbows, and they’ve got a 20 minute musical onslaught that should do just the trick.

“Evil” is not often an adjective used to describe Fucked Up, even at their most heavy, but no word seems more apt for the opening track and star of the show, “Year of the Dragon.” Clocking in at 18 minutes, one might expect a hardcore- even a post-hardcore, song to get more than a little boring, but Fucked Up manages to keep you engaged and more than mildly uncomfortable for every anguished second. In a not-entirely-unexpected anticlimactic turn, the rest of the record is made up simply of two covers, “I Wanna Be A Yank” by Cardboard Brains and “Disorder” by The Ugly. Catchy and well done as these covers are, though, your ear will undoubtedly be yearning to go back to the unnerving fury of the previous track.

While their full-length is still a few months from being released, Fucked Up fans can start to rest easy knowing that David Comes to Life did not, in fact, mark the end of our favorite post-hardcore weirdos, but was just another stepping stone on their endlessly rocking path. Year of the Dragon may not be the easiest swallow for listeners unfamiliar with Fucked Up’s particular style of punk rock, but if we’re being honest here, their records rarely are. But for those of us who need a little musical berating in the form of some sweet riffs and passionate, pained screams, this is the album we’ve been waiting for all year.