The latest in the long-running Canadian “prog punk” (their term) band Fucked Up‘s long-running Chinese zodiac series, as with their past four Zodiac releases going back to 2014 on the great Bay Area Tankcrimes label, is this two-part epic with both tracks coming in at over 28 and 27 minutes each (take that, Yes). While technically an EP with only two tracks, this is longer than most full-length albums, a technicality that’s even more absurd considering that this is part 1 of a 3-part series (the others are Monkey and Rooster) that will encompass over 5 hours (!) of music.
The first track, “Long Ago Gardens,” sees Tuka Muhammad (who also appeared on 2021’s Year of the Horse as part of this series and voices the character “Good Goat” here) alongside new collaborators Tamara Lindeman, Jennifer Castle,
and perhaps most notably, Dwid Hellion (of the legendary, long-running hardcore band Integrity and other projects) sharing vocal duties with lead vocalist Damian Abraham. As such, the album is a dialogue between each character, with each vocalist voicing a different character, rather than a traditional collection of songs or a concept album with only one narrator.
However, even if the listener doesn’t know any of the above and is as bewildered by the story as anyone would be without a guide of some sort, this is still an enjoyably wild listen showing Fucked Up have not only not lost any of their experimental tendencies or imagination after 25 years as a band, but also none of their intensity, heaviness, or rage.
While fans of Fucked Up’s (slightly) more conventional full-length works (such as 2006’s Hidden World, 2009’s Chemistry of Common Life, or their zenith, 2011’s David Comes to Life) on esteemed indie labels like Jade Tree or Matador may be a bit put off by all of these concepts and experimentation, fans who have heard previous entries in this series know to expect the unexpected.
This is, in some ways, Fucked Up’s way of putting their most experimental ideas out into a specialized series that tends to attract either obsessive fans or those looking for more “out” material (or both, as the Venn diagram between the two features a strong intersection), much like how Sonic Youth‘s SYR functioned during their last 15 years or so of existence. Carry on, wayward sons (and daughters).
