The words “rock opera” and “hardcore punk” usually don’t go together for obvious reasons– rock operas are typically self-indulgent affairs with highly detailed musical accompaniment that unveils the story over a protracted period of time, while hardcore punk is raw and emotionally charged that attempts to get to the point quickly. Marrying the two together makes absolutely no sense unless someone is bold and committed enough to pull it off.
Fucked Up certainly pulled it off with David Comes To Life, an ambitious project that clocks in just under 80 minutes and takes you through a journey of life, love, and loss within the trappings of a relatively unconventional story structure filled with unreliable narrators and a sort of meta-commentary on the storytelling medium as a whole. The basic premise is this– David Eliade, a factory worker in late 70s London, falls in love with an activist by the name of Veronica. Together they build a bomb to protest the working conditions in the factory but the device fails and kills Veronica in the process. A distraught David retreats to the recesses of his mind before realizing that he’s actually a character in a story controlled by a narrator by the name of Octavio St. Laurent. After a struggle for control, David learns that Octavio is responsible for Veronica’s death and that Octavio’s actions were because he was playing the role of villain in the story. Veronica’s spirit reassures David, leading him to find value in their time together, and he returns to the factory to relive their story with a renewed perspective.
If it sounds convoluted, it most certainly is– but that’s kind of the fun of David Comes To Life, an album which pushes the hardcore punk medium in a bold new direction. It’s a novel approach to songwriting that is as interesting sonically as it is inspiring thematically, and one of those albums that is going to stick with me for months to come.
Standout Songs: “Queen of Hearts”, “Turn The Season”, “Under My Nose”, “The Other Shoe”, “Remember My Name”, “Ship of Fools”
