I don't think that when the No Pasaran EP was released over a decade ago that anyone would have been able to imagine that Fucked Up would be the hardcore juggernaut it is today. This EP, although a gem from the early 2000s, shows that Fucked Up, like when all bands first start out, were still looking for their sound. The first track, "No Pasaran," is very reminiscent of early '80s hardcore punk. All the instruments are fast, the guitars have heavy fuzz and distortion on them, the rhythm is inconsistent and disjointed, and the lyrics are politically charged. Fine. But that's what hardcore typically is. However, the B–side song, "Circling the Drain" does have some early remnants of what would soon become Fucked Up's sound that we hear in albums like David Comes to Life and Glass Boys. The band takes some musical risks here. There's actually an introduction with a main guitar riff, guitar fills and a solo. And while all of this is going on, Damian is belting out those mean and angry lyrics that he still is known for doing today.

Now that Glass Boys has been released, we can see just how much this band has evolved from when they first put out No Pasaran. If you are to exclude the introduction on the title track this EP runs at just about four minutes long. Fucked Up have songs that last a lot longer than that on Glass Boys. They also aren't afraid to play slowly and branch out of always playing fast and with high distortion. The band today, as opposed to when the No Pasaran EP came out, also have beautiful back–up vocal melodies in songs like "Sun Glass," "The Art of Patrons" and "Paper The House." Would anyone really have imagined that the song "Sun Glass," let alone any Fucked Up song, would have an acoustic guitar in it– Would anyone back in 2002 have imagined that the band would release two different rhythmic versions of an album at the same time for that matter–

What is really interesting about Fucked Up is that with every new release they venture out of their element just enough so that they don't become repetitious, but don't venture out too much to completely reinvent their sound and polarize fans. They take small steps and evolve gradually. But when comparing their sound on the No Pasaran EP to the recently released Glass Boys we can see that this band has made huge musical strides.