F*cked Up - 'Couple Tracks' (Matador) Released 25/01/2010

Since their inception in the early Noughties not even ****ed Up know how many singles (mostly in 7" format) they've released. Double discer Couple Tracks is their attempt to round up 25 of the fiercest of those. It charts a pretty spectacular journey for the Toronto heavyweights.

'Neat Parts' sounds like The Ramones, 'Generation' has more than a passing resemblance to Californian punk band Circle Jerks, 'No Pasatan' hints at Minor Threat’s ferocity and pretty much every other track sounds like The Germs. One consistent vein throughout it all is front man Damian 's stuffed-pig scowl. Live, he is terrifying. On record, the terror is amplified.
This is a timeline charting their incessant brutality and anger. 'No Epiphany' and 'Crooked Head' – both live favourites - hint at their most accessible record, 2008's 'Chemistry Of Common Life'. Although nothing from their last album actually appears on this rambling collection.

The notes inside the sleeve - a paragraph contextualising each track - thankfully, does little to clean the mystical film that still surrounds the band. All penned with trademark mischievousness (e.g. 2006's Triumph Of Life "another hit single in the Vietnamese chart”). However it does normalise a band who everyone cautiously approached when they were rejecting MySpace, releasing vinyl emblazoned with pictures of Nazi rallies and calling themselves things like Mustard Gas.

Couple Tracks is a testament to just how far they've come. Clue: far further than they, or anyone else, imagined. Their most famous track – 17-minute epic Year Of The Pig – is omitted but 'David Christmas', the seething Yuletide anthem that saw them all dress up as elves is included.

It's just a flavour of how this band is a law unto themselves - and that will never change. Even if some of them are parents and season ticket holders now.