Arctic Monkeys: Suck It And See / Fucked Up: David Comes To Life POSTED BY TERENCE NUZUM, June 18, 2011 Share 
Arctic Monkeys: Suck It And See- Finally the Monkeys have hit a perfect balance. Using all the rock and loudness of their second album and combining it with the Smiths-esque mope pop of Humbug has resulted in a stellar British indie rock album. Hell it might even be the best British rock album since Oasis' (What's The Story) Morning Glory?. The band produces it's usual mix of swinging 60's meets post-punk meets Brit pop but this time it goes one step beyond even the controlled polish of Humbug into the realm of timeless. Vocally Alex Turner is still doing his usual Morrissey and Liam Gallagher switch offs which fit both drastically different but both fit perfectly next to the feedback and fuzz petal anthems. Lyrically again brilliant and catch and seemingly effortless on Turners part including the soon to be classic line "poured my aching heart into a pop song". Like the Pixies you have to wonder were this possession of fluid musical excitement comes from. Though the album starts to plod down by the end like Motorhead, The Ramones, and Radiohead this continues to be a consistently great band. In the 2000's this is the best Britain has to offer. Still curious? Suck It And See.
Fucked Up: David Comes To Life- So here's the skinny. Fucked Up are already worthy of being included in the halls of great hardcore punk bands. Their last album The Chemistry of Common Life was an eye opener. Here was a band with all the passion and fury of Black Flag and all the melody of a 80's college rock band but with none of the restraints of either. I felt they were headed for great things. David Comes To Life is a game changer. Back in 91 Metallica fans were crying sell out the minute the Black Album was released and I have a feeling that Fucked Up fans are chanting the same death knell. I know I am. So what do we have here? Basically pedestrian playing that sounds instead of Black Flag more like the most generic college rock knock off band imaginable. It'd be easy to say that the band just isn't that good and that messy hardcore only sounds good by default but that isn't really being honest. Truth is the band is a really great band but only when they play to their strengths which is wrangled chaos instead of melodic structure. Singer Pink Eyes' mix of Rollins meets Rancid vocals are the only thing that is consistent and with a band who could play great alt-rock it's gruffness would make an addicting loud/soft cocktail. Instead though its the only saving grace. The album its self is an overly long prog rock concept album about a girls death and her boyfriends mistaken guilt over the incident. The whole thing comes off as ambitious but ultimately just empty. What I was once proud to call the last great hardcore punk band has become instead an unmemorable Rites of Spring knock off. These are dark days indeed.
"The Audio Philes" is ©2011 by Terence Nuzum. All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2011 by Nolan B. Canova. Share This Article on Facebook! Subscribe to Crazed Fanboy Message Board | Email
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