Fucked Up : Another Day
Over their more than two decades as a band, Fucked Up have amassed an impressive discography. Although they have only seven full-length albums, they’ve released multiple EPs, concept singles, film scores and live albums in between, all of which have reflected their desire for innovation. While they originated as a hardcore punk band in early ’00s Toronto, it is only really their 2006 full-length debut album, Hidden World, that has borne the musical hallmarks of hardcore proper. Since then, they have integrated the influences of artists as disparate as Be Here Now-era Oasis (on second album The Chemistry of Common Life (2008)) and Candy Apple Grey-era Hüsker Dü (on fourth album Glass Boys (2014) and sixth album One Day (2023)) into their sound. Each of their first six albums is completely different from the one that preceded it, making it feel like Fucked Up have been constantly revising their approach to making music with each new trip to the studio.
Another Day is the first Fucked Up album to serve as a direct sequel to its immediate predecessor. One Day was recorded by the band members separately across three eight-hour recording sessions (the combined 24 hours equalling the one day of the title). While that album focused on the potential of what can happen in one day, several of the songs were lyrically focused on bereavements the band suffered in the years leading up to its release. The band say they view that as a “winter” record, with Another Day serving as a more optimistic, “spring”-themed record. With a mere year-and-a-half between their releases, Another Day is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Fucked Up album with by far the least sonic difference from its immediate predecessor to date. The straightforward, melodic indie punk of One Day is largely reprised here, and is just as enjoyable, although as a result the album feels (unusually for a Fucked Up album) like more of the same.
It opens strongly with “Face,” “Stimming,” “Tell Yourself You Will,” and the title track, four songs which feature solid, crunching riffs from lead guitarist Mike Haliechuk and rhythm guitarist Josh Zucker, along with backing vocals from drummer Jonah Falco that represent a spiritual-sounding, mellifluous counterbalance to frontman Damian Abraham’s guttural barking. The band said that many of the album’s songs are thematically linked with those in the same sequence on One Day, e.g. this album’s opener is lyrically focused on the same theme as that album’s, etc. You can really hear this on fifth song “Paternal Instinct,” a song which follows neatly on from One Day’s fifth song, “Broken Little Boys,” on which Abraham sung about his anxieties at feeling unable to insulate his three male children from toxically masculine cultural influences like toy guns, sports, and pornography. The overall tonality of “Paternal Instinct” is more positive and optimistic than that song’s, though, and its infectious chorus of “we’re the ones that will burn it all down” feels like a refrain that will inspire massive sing-alongs in a live environment.
“Divining Gods” and “The One to Break It” open side two and maintain “Paternal Instinct”’s relatively upbeat tone, with the lead and backing vocals complementing each other well. Despite Fucked Up’s stated intentions for this album to be a more “optimistic” cousin of One Day, “More” is a far more introspective and contemplative song than that album’s title track, of which it is a counterpart, concluding with some mournful brass. The chirpier “Follow Fine Feeling” is dominated by clean vocals and some distinctive riffing from Haliechuk, while Falco’s drumming recalls his quadruple-tracked work on Glass Boys. “House Lights” makes for a satisfying closing track, with Haliechuk’s and Zucker’s guitars and the lead and backing vocals interlocking with each other effectively. It fittingly concludes the album on an optimistic note, with Abraham singing that “it’s got its problems … But you fight to find the joy / Before they bring up the house lights.”
Another Day is an enjoyable Fucked Up album. It is not one of their more original or innovative releases, but it sees them take One Day’s straight-ahead indie punk musical template and create some similarly fun songs with solid riffs and melodic choruses. Though it will be nice to hear them do something different for the third album of the seasonally themed quadrilogy of which the band have suggested this album is the second part, the important thing is that they have delivered a suite of songs that will be most enjoyable to those singing and moshing along to them at their shows, which is where their music has always been best appreciated.
Label: Fucked Up Records
Year: 2024
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Fucked Up : Another Day
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