David Comes to Life

Fucked Up - David Comes to Life
Critic Score
Based on 31 reviews
2011 Ratings: #35 / 1031
Year End Rank: #19
User Score
Based on 137 ratings
2011 Rank: #156
Liked by 6 people
June 7, 2011 / Release Date
LP / Format
Matador / Label
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
NOW Magazine
Fucked Up's grand ambition may one day be their downfall, but right now it has produced an intricate, rewarding beast of an album, their magnum opus.
100
A.V. Club

David Comes To Life is Fucked Up’s most musically accessible album wrapped up in its most fearlessly pretentious and flat-out incomprehensible concept.

92
Beats Per Minute

David Comes To Life is a liberating album that represents a giant step forward in every genre that it tackles and incorporates.

90
Spectrum Culture

More musically varied and conceptually ambitious than anything that’s been classified under either the punk or hardcore banners since those terms became commonplace, David Comes To Life has all the markings of a landmark indie album.

90
PopMatters

The greatest testament to David Comes to Life is how it feels like there’s more and more to it, even when you’re already on sensory overload as it is.

90
SPIN

It's one 
of the most overly complicated hard-rock records 
of the past ten years. It's also one of the best.

86
Pitchfork

David Comes to Life is absolutely worth the commitment, a convincing demonstration of what can happen when a band works without limitations.

82
Coke Machine Glow

The narrative of David is not quite as cohesive as Fucked Up think it is, the lyrics too cliché, but if writing a rock opera was the impetus required to push them to produce an album as gloriously overblown as David Comes to Life, then it's worth a thousand dead Veronicas and even more mopey dorks to mourn them.

80
Alternative Press
Fucked Up's pop sensibilities remain impressively omnipresent, validating the hype.
80
Clash

There's no doubting the commitment in delivery ... with solid musical cohesion and a thrusting triple-guitar assault that has an astounding clarity and is expertly choreographed.

80
The Guardian
The lyric sheet is essential to get any measure of the undoubtedly high-concept narrative, but the music is some of their most approachable and enjoyable yet, with extra depths to be plumbed if you so desire.
80
Uncut
Two albums on and they're still assembling a uniquely imaginative mythology.
80
Mojo
Toronto punk sextet's third LP is an epic soundtrack.
80
The Observer
The plot rarely makes sense but that hardly matters; as the riffs pile on top of each other, there's little choice but to submit.
80
Kerrang!
Guitars buzz and chime, melodies uproot from the dirt and stand tall; the sum total being tan indefinable yet fascinating modern day rock opera that is as rewarding as it is unique.
80
Q Magazine
Toronto six-piece deliver a killer concept album.
80
Slant Magazine

David Comes to Life contains plenty of evidence that Fucked Up is still one of the strangest and most inventive guitar rock bands on the planet.

80
The Skinny

With equal parts adherence to and abandonment of tradition, DCTL succeeds despite its dubious concept and daunting runtime, and though it may be hard to digest, it leaves a pleasant aftertaste.

80
Consequence of Sound

But more than any theoretical narrative or concept, this is a rock album at heart, and it certainly does rock

80
NME
Behold their evolution: while 2008's 'The Chemistry Of Common Life' album was drenched in religious connotations and spiritual euphemisms, this time, their rock opera about romance and death at an English lightbulb factory (seriously) is theatrics personified, taking listeners on a quest while still abiding by their precious DIY ethic.
80
AllMusic

The 18 songs on the album are all in the heavily layered, chamber-hardcore style established on Chemistry of Common Life, but Fucked Up is taking the idea to the furthest reaches, and somehow pulling it off.

80
musicOMH

The hooky riffs and unforgiving pace make it a fantastic rock album in itself.

80
Drowned in Sound

Musically speaking, it's a perfectly logical progression from Fucked Up's second album, 2008's The Chemistry Of Common Life, which itself strode recognisably onwards from their 2006 studio debut Hidden World.

75
Paste
Sonically, this is Fucked Up's cleanest album to date.
75
Prefix
It is an album based very clearly on a concept, an overall construct. Within that, Fucked Up once again morph themselves, moving further away from anything you could call hardcore (save Damian Abraham's voice).
70
Rolling Stone
Fucked Up's real appeal is simple: guitars, three of 'em, though it can seem like thirty.
70
Under the Radar
Even if you can't quite make out all the words to David's story, it still plays like a thriller.
50
The Needle Drop
These songs make use of punk's trademark aggression and speed, but draws all the intensity out to a point where it no longer feels energetic, thrilling, cathartic, or any of the other things I look to this style of music for.
40
Tiny Mix Tapes

Between the overlong, overstuffed songs and arrangements, ridiculous album concept and lyrical conceit, there's no room left for the vicious, hurtling energy that first impressed me on Hidden World's best songs.

PipePanic
68

(THE BUCKET LIST PART 1NE)

Hardcore Punk Musical Time I Guess?

This is my first dance with Fucked Up (which seems fitting since this is the first review of my recommendation/must hears/classic series The Bucket List), and before I even start the review...what a fucking BAND NAME! Fucked Up may be my new favorite band name of all time, aside from maybe King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Band name aside, this is the first album i'm listening by these guys/gals from Toronto...and honestly I ... read more

MusicN
80

Another of my first music snob albums, this time recommended by Pitchfork; that site governed my music taste for a while, until I really got into Fantano and AOTY.
A bit of a one-note album but I still find it very jubilant and nostalgic.

Space Vacation
90

I've been listening to a tonne of astounding music the last few weeks.

Although a 90/100 is nothing to scoff at I honestly feel like this deserves more and will likely be elevated the more I listen, despite having it on repeat the last several days.

The Other Shoe is one of my all-time favourite songs, it is THAT good.

Damian Abraham has an absurdly massive musical IQ, I have found a lot of good music because of him and he puts it on display quite heavily throughout the rewarding 77+ minute ... read more

dt_chun
90

hearing a grown man angrily yell "HELLO MY NAME IS DAVID" at the top of his lungs is surreal

80

generic, but great, but way too fucking long

FunkyBlood9696
57

This is the defintion of everything to not do on a punk rock album for me - have clean af production, super long songs and runtime overall (for the genre anyway) and vocals that have next to no range whatsoever.
Sure, there are some cool riffs and chord progressions here and there, and the vocals being as gruff as they are make for an interesting experience paired with these indie rock instrumentals, however just a few songs in I was incredibly bored, not to mention how little I was paying ... read more

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