Fucked Up

Award-winning Canadian hardcore band makes a rock opera about young love, a lightbulb factory and British political angst, full of rhyming couplets that would make even Shakespeare blush. On paper, David Comes to Life sounds ridiculous. On the record, it’s...well...still ridiculous, but also captivating, impassioned and, at its best, exhilarating. Frontman Damian Abraham’s growl remains intact, and its lack of pretension keeps some of the album’s more obtuse lyrics in check, but it’s the rest of the band who shine brightest: working with a broader melodic palette, they deliver their most inspired and tuneful set of songs to date. Turns out there was a stadium rock band hiding in Fucked Up all along, and it’s pretty amazing.