The Chemistry of Common Life, Fucked Up’s 2008 album, starts deceptively with a flute solo on “Son the Father.” A minute later, after a guitar build, lead singer Damian Abraham begins screaming his lungs out about the birth of civilization. Their name and rabble-rousing antics suggest a straightforward hardcore punk group, but Fucked Up constantly throws listeners for a loop, filling songs with violins and doe-eyed female vocals seemingly just to tick off the hardcore faithful, while skirting the increasingly piqued masses by limiting most of their releases to 7-inches only. At this point, they’ve released more albums on cassette tape than they have CD.
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