Track Listing

1. Son The Father
2. Magic Word
3. Golden Seal
4. Days Of Last
5. Crooked Head
6. No Epiphany
7. Black Albino Bones
8. Royal Swan
9. Twice Born
10. Looking For God
11. Chemistry Of Common Life

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38632 in Music
• Released on: 2008-10-13
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

CD Description
After the 18-minute single, "Year of the Pig", which eloquently spoke for the often voiceless Canadian sex workers, fans had no idea what to expect from Toronto's most adventurouspunk band. THE CHEMISTRY OF COMMON LIFE is often bruising, but as much for its quiet moments as its heavy ones. Singer Pink Eyes has retained his blustering, gruff voice, but the music surrounding him is more subtle and shaded, borrowing equally from artier acts like Sonic Youth and the blunt forceof Black Flag. "Crooked Head" and "No Epiphany" arrive on waves of feedback and frothy washes of keening guitar, but sturdy tracks like "Black Albino Bones" and "Days of Last" stomp and rumble with pure vintage hardcore strength. The album's closing title track, clocking in at around seven minutes,puts it all together seamlessly.

Customer Reviews

Epic, ambitious Canadian hardcore
2008 saw Fu**ed Up establish themselves as an increasingly talked about act; NME touted them (for at least five minutes) and they featured in a number of end of year `Best of...'s; notably reaching 17 in Pitchfork's end of year round up, whilst the Onion's A.V. Club made it their number two album of 2008 (with only TV On The Radio ahead of them).

This Canadian outfit emerged from Toronto's hardcore scene having formed way back in 2002 and have established a growing reputation as something special. Hidden World, their previous double album from 2006, attracted sufficient interest to ensure that they were signed to Matador.

Chemistry... is undoubtedly hardcore, but it's also ambitious, epic and hugely impressive. Opening track Son The Father sets the tone with it's furious call and response vocal, massive riff and strident condemnation of religion. Vocalist Pink Eyes (all the band employ bizarre monikers such as 10,000 marbles) gravelly vocal style won't be to everyone's taste, but adds to the sense of anger in tracks like Crooked Head. Relatively straightforward tracks like Days Of Last, mix with delicate instrumental numbers like Golden Seal. The band's three guitarists are well used, laying down dense, complex textures, notably on No Epiphany. Comparisons have been made to Husker Dü and these are valid; not perhaps in terms of sound, but in terms of sheer ambition and desire to really redefine their genre. Chemistry... is a hugely rewarding record; it's complexity ensures that you constantly notice different elements, and it deserves to reach a wider audience.

Fu**ed Up's label, Matador are very good at offering free MP3s of their acts and selections from this album have been available of late. Finally, it's pleasant to buy a CD where the album art is a thing of beauty; 2008 seems to have been a year of interesting releases marred by rubbish artwork.

Chemistry Set, And The Match
Now, aficionado of the hardcore genre I am not, and in fact my only real dalliances with the genre are with accessible artists such as Gallows, and slightly more credible ones like Poison The Well and The Bronx. And ... well, hardcore is hardcore, except here.

Like Metallica start both Ride The Lightning andMaster Of Puppets, so do F**ked (pesky censure) Up, with a folky, quiet, tension-growing section before cracking into the more expected (controlled) shouting and juggernaut guitars, but there is flute-based! Where F**ked Up deviate from their peers is that this plucked (plucky?), folky element is present throughout, as is a conscious level of progressive style.

The greatest shame is the album does not include a version of `Year of the Pig', their 18-minute part-folk, part-prog, entirely hardcore masterpiece, not even the 4-minute version available on Rough Trade Shops - Counter Culture 2007 is made available. But this gives reasonable impetus to buying that as well, so wise marketing, and one for the collectors I'd say.

The album definitely works best as a ensemble and as such I shan't single out any track for note, except perhaps to note that an 18-minute opus would have upset this collective balance, and perhaps, truth be told, the 4-minute condensation doesn't cut the necessary mustard.

In Pink Eyes the band surely have one of the most enigmatic of front man, particularly live, when he resembles a mildly saner Tim Harrington of Les Savy Fav, with whom comparison can certainly be made.

This is a breathless odyssey and rich in deviation from a dusty template, and serves well as a crossover album, which should endear them in sales but whether it is quite hard enough for hardcore fans may be an issue for hot debate.

glorious
Just amazing.

There are times when it sounds like they mated Steve Jones' wall of sound with King Crimson and the Stooges, but that's not all, and it is very much their own vein that they are mining. The sound is rich, full, powerful, and Damian's growled and bellowed vocals match, and carries their substantial lyrics with something akin to garage opera - just really moving in fact. The whole thing works, and kicks somewhere deep inside. Rough, poetic, direct, oblique, exultant, addictive, raw and layered and generous. Plus their front man is a bear sex god.

Get passionate and throw yourself on the floor. This record will restore your faith in any number of things you didn't know you believed in.