A week from now marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year, and that means that per tradition, Canada’s own Fucked Up have prepared some new music to celebrate: Year of the Horse.
The latest installment in the longtime punk band’s ongoing Zodiac series, Year of the Horse consists of five individual “acts.” As noted on Twitter, Fucked Up are dedicating the new project to the Texas hardcore icons Wade Allison of Iron Age and Riley Gale of Power Trip, both of whom were friends with the group prior to their deaths.
Year of the Horse is a Bandcamp exclusive, with a physical release following later on in 2021. Not all of the “acts” are available to stream for free at the moment, but the one that is — “Act One” — is quite the equine beast.
“Act One” is a whopping 19 minutes long (!) in total. Unsurprisingly, Fucked Up stuff a lot of experimental hardcore punk into that runtime. There’s ambient whooshes, melodic drumming, sweeping cello, and regal trumpets, all layered beneath frontman Damian Abraham’s trademark scratchy hollers. At one point, Maegan Brooks Mills reads off poetic lines during the track’s two mid-track segments, “Blanches’ Suite” and “Mother Chorus”, both of which sound like renaissance fair bits.
Stream/purchase it below. Pre-orders for the physical version of Year of the Horse are ongoing.
Previously in their Zodiac series, Fucked Up have released: 2006’s “Year of the Dog”, 2008’s “Year of the Pig”, 2009’s “Year of the Rat”, 2010’s “Year of the Ox”, 2012’s “Year of the Tiger”, 2014’s “Year of the Dragon”, 2015’s “Year of the Hare”, and 2017’s “Year of the Snake”. The band’s last proper full-length album, Dose Your Dreams, dropped in 2018.
We have a new record coming out tomorrow. And that record is dedicated to Wade Allison, and Riley Gale.
— Fucked Up (@FUCKEDUP) February 5, 2021
For now this is just living on @Bandcamp No spotify, no streaming. We will announce the physical in a while. For the next few months this will just be released as song and story, so please enjoy. Full lyrics are available with download
— Fucked Up (@FUCKEDUP) February 5, 2021
