Album review: F*cked Up – Another Day

In their 20-plus years of existence, Toronto’s Fucked Up have always toed a not-so-fine line between experimentation and pretentiousness. Starting off life in 2001 as a more or less straightforward hardcore act, the Canadians—led by the indomitable Damian Abraham – soon found that such parameters didn’t particularly interest them. So as the years went on, their music mutated and evolved into something pretty different, and they became a kind of punk rock Radiohead, though not quite as ostentatious or self-involved. That’s because the flamboyance and exuberance of their songs was tempered by their punk ethos and ethics. So even if they came dangerously close at times – notably with some of tracks in their ongoing Zodiac series (flutes, recorders and 20-minute songs, anyone?) – Fucked Up never disappeared entirely up their own arses.

Another Day is the band’s seventh full-length and comes a year on from 2023’s One Day, a record that was sort of (but not really) written and recorded in 24 hours. Interestingly, this sounds much more like the process of frenzied studio time than its predecessor. It’s much more like their brash early days than anything they’ve made for a long time, and is also the shortest album of their career.

Opener Face charges out of the gates with violent vigour, despite lyrics that allude to the fact these musicians are no longer the young whippersnappers they once were. Not that you tell. With these songs, Fucked Up are defying their ages and the expectations of it. For while there’s an element of experimental quirkiness in the opening strains of Stimming, it soon transforms into a breakneck punk ode to the power of music, and Paternal Instinct thoroughly belies the comfort of its titles, instead offering the nihilism of its almost football chant-esque refrain: ‘We’re the ones that’ll burn it all down.’

Elsewhere, Diving Gods is a foray into gruff post-hardcore in the vein of, say, Hot Water Music, while Follow Fine Feeling sounds, oddly, more like Vampire Weekend or Local Natives. It’s an incongruous moment for this record, despite the fact that Fucked Up have built a reputation as a band who thrive on incongruous moments. That song, however, doesn’t quite work. It’s soon blown away by closer House Lights, however, a feel-good stomp about enjoying life despite life. ‘It’s got its problems, and the world is full of strife,’ sings Damian, ‘but you fight to find the joy, before they bring up the house lights.’

It’s one of the most powerful (if somewhat simplistic) moments on a record that contains a number of inspiring moments, but, on the whole, Another Day doesn't quite assert itself in the context of their back catalogue.

Verdict: 3/5

For Fans Of: Militarie Gun, Scowl, Hot Water Music

Another Day is released on August 9 on Fucked Up Records