The Toronto punk adventurers in Fucked Up have never been afraid to brach out or experiment, but the band’s Zodiac series is where it has always really gone off. Starting with 2006’s Year Of The Dog, Fucked Up have released a series of long, expansive singles, all based on years in the Chinese calendar, that push their sound in all sorts of fascinating directions. The latest is Year Of The Horse, and it’s shaping up to be a monster.

Fucked Up have been relatively quiet ever since the release of their sprawling and excellent 2018 album Dose Your Dreams. The members of the band have been busy with other projects: Young Guv, Jade Hairpins, Masterpiece Machine, Dolly Dream, the reunited No Warning. Jonah Falco has produced a lot of really great records for UK punk bands. Damian Abraham has an extremely entertaining podcast. But now Fucked Up is back at full strength for Year Of The Horse, and the first installment in the four-part release is a 19-minute beast of a thing.

Year Of The Horse is the first new Zodiac record since 2017’s Year Of The Snake. On Twitter, the band says that the record is only going to be on Bandcamp for now but that there will eventually be a physical single. They’ve also dedicated the release to two late Texan hardcore heroes: Iron Age’s Wade Allison and Power Trip’s Riley Gale, both of whom were friends of Fucked Up and the latter of whom was in Masterpiece Machine with Mike Haliechuk and Jonah Falco. In its 19 minutes, the first part of Year Of The Horse goes from ’70s-style riff-metal to screaming-at-the-sky hardcore to psychedelic folk. It’s amazing. Listen below.

Year Of The Horse is up for pre-order at Bandcamp.