Funeral for a Friend Albums (5)
'Tales Don't Tell Themselves'
Release Date 1/1/2007
Tracks 10
Label WM UK
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
When a band unleashes a two-part song as the centerpiece of their album, it's a clear sign that the art fix is in -- and so is the case with Funeral for a Friend, whose third album, Tales Don't Tell Themselves, is some kind of nautical concept album (just like Modest Mouse's We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, but not really!). Producer Gil Norton certainly provides crucial assistance in giving Funeral's music a cinematic splendor and a glossy pop sheen, turning Tales Don't Tell Themselves into an unapologetic big rock record -- big in its sound, big in its hooks, big in its ambitions, big in every way except singer Matt Davies' voice, which is still a thin, tremulous instrument when he sings. He can get swallowed up by the waves of guitars, but that plainspoken voice accentuates the group's post-hardcore roots, which otherwise are quickly receding into the past as of this record. This lack of aggression, whether it's in the buzzing guitars or absent screams, could very well alienate longtime fans, but Funeral for a Friend not only displays an increased sense of ambition on this sweeping great leap forward, they also display a greater sense of accomplishment, as writers and musicians. They may be shedding their old skin here, but the growth is a fascinating thing to witness. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Hours strengthens most of the Funeral for a Friend sound, the one they had so much success with on the 2003 debut, Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation. The Welsh combo still doesn't do anything that different from its peers, adhering to the post-hardcore/emo formula of self-righteous vocals, hooky dynamics, impassioned screaming, and underpinnings of time spent listening to Deftones and Get Up Kids records. But Hours gives the kids what they want right out of the gate, and has flashes of brilliance in its more upbeat material. "Who was it that said that great things come to great men?" Matt Davies asks at the outset of "All the Rage." "Well that fucker lied to us/There's nothing here but a wasteland." The sentiment recasts the teenage wasteland of yore, replacing hope for redemption with the blank stare of apathy. "How many times can I say I'm sorry and really mean it?" Musically it's a melodic hardcore rager, full of flinty guitar runs and anxious hitches in the percussion. It sounds similar to what listeners have heard before, but runs deeper than most. Unfortunately, Funeral for a Friend are less unique in the ballad department. "Hospitality"'s plaintive crying isn't distinctive, and its arrangement recycles Def Leppard for a generation just discovering how much love bites. "Drive," too, is the height of melodrama with its "This could be a movie" centerpiece. But the single "Streetcar" has a nagging urgency in its melody, and "Monsters" and the metal redux "End of Nothing" are equally strong. Funeral for a Friend never lose their youthful vigor, their wonder about the promise of life as well as its bad places. This helps them, because you believe that they aren't just going through the motions. Hours falters when it slows. But when it kicks up a racket the album screams like the conscience of a kid finally given a voice. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide
'Seven Ways to Scream Your Name'
Release Date 10/21/2003
Tracks 7
Label Ferret
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What The Critics Say
Released shortly after the band's debut album Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation, this U.S.-targeted mini-LP was clearly meant to introduce American audiences to the band's unorthodox formula for emo-gone-metal-gone-hardcore. Collecting seven highlights from three separate Funeral for a Friend U.K. releases (namely the "Juneau" single, and the Between Order and Model and Four Ways to Scream Your Name EPs), this set certainly proves that the band's clever balance between measured aggression and melodic immediacy is tenuous at best. Up and down it goes, as "Red is the New Black" and "Kiss and Makeup" both manage to convincingly rock their emotional riffs and words, while the pointedly sardonic "The Art of American Football" simply gets too lazy, copping its every trick from post-alternative Irishmen Therapy? More worrisome, however, is the creepy, suspicious feeling that pseudo-clever song titles ("10:45 Amsterdam Conversations," "This Year's Most Open Heartbreaker" -- please!) merely serve to mask Funeral for a Friend's rather pretentious, stylized angst. For metalheads crossing over, such subtleties are likely to go unnoticed, if only for lack of prior exposure to such gimmicks; but for emo fans, this self-conscious posturing can dangerously brand the group as hopeless posers caught red-handed in the process of betraying the genre's supposedly hyper-honest ethos. Whatever the case, when it comes time to invade America once and for all, Funeral for a Friend will have to overcome this ambiguity to make their money and reputation the old-fashioned way: they'll have to earn it. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
'Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation'
Release Date 1/1/2003
Tracks 12
Label WM UK
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Welsh combo Funeral for a Friend pushes metal to the bottom for Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation, its ambitious debut full-length. The chugging riffs are there, yes. But Funeral's heavy metal guitar lines are only guides for the surging melodies and sing/scream dynamics common to the new nation of post-hardcore rocket operators. From Autumn to Ashes, Alexisonfire -- these are just a couple of the band's peers in this, both offering their own versions of what's become a signature sound. For their part, it's Funeral's melodic sense that defines them. After all the stereotypical screaming and the heart-immolating lyrics ("I'm dying here in front of you"; "And in my hands our blood recovered"), cuts like "Escape Artists Never Die" and "Waking Up" are still pretty damn hooky. Vocalist Matt Davies even has a bit of Brandon Boyd's willowy soulfulness. Despite its overdramatic title, "Bend Your Arms to Look Like Wings" plays its metallic rhythms perfectly off a relentlessly triumphant chorus. "Storytelling" layers a rack of full-blown backup harmonies over its chunky power chords, while "Red Is the New Black" returns to the old raw throat/heartsick singer standby. The common elements in Funeral for a Friend's sound need some seasoning to keep up with their powerful melodies. But Casually Dressed is still a solid debut, and proves that there's hope for Welsh rock beyond Lostprophets. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide
