Funeral For A Friend

Tales Don't Tell Themselves

Written by: TL on 04/06/2007 00:58:43

When a band reaches the point in their career that Funeral For A Friend has reached with the release of their 3rd full length "Tales Don't Tell Themselves", saying that there is a million things that could be stated and discussed about them is an understatement. Thus, in order to not contest the Bible for length, what I am going to provide you with in this review is "the rundown" of the pieces of information essential to deciding the quality of said album.

First of all, regarding evolution in style and sound, it is not at all too bold to compare FFAF to My Chemical Romance. With a debut of passionate post-hardcore, followed by a somewhat commercially watered down, but still largely successful sophomore, and now an epic and inflated concept album, the similarities are in my opinion striking. And with that said, then yes, let it be revealed that if your greatest wish is for the guys to return to the style they featured on their debut, and your greatest concern is that they might not, then consider this review a [2] or something and go wallow in your own closemindedness. Funeral For A Friend has indeed plunged headfirst into the world of catchy riffs and huge choruses, completely devoid of the screams so many scenesters loved back in the day, thus making "Tales Don't Tell Themselves" exactly the record any "true emo/scene/retard person" would hate the band for making.

Now if you're an openminded person who's not obsessed with some romantic illusion of honesty only existing in underground music, let me assure you that you have plenty of reason to keep reading and even get the album, because provided that you can approach this album as if it was by a band you'd never heard of, you are probably going to like it. The band's concept about the power of the ocean and how it shipwrecks the main character is an interesting alternative to all the usual love-story/political-message lyrics we're burdened with. They've handled their attempt at epicism in a mostly believable manner, with passionate and poetic lyrics, carried by the soaring voice of Matt Davies who, while not screaming anymore, is still technically better than ever before. The compositions are, to put it mildly, redefining the word "Grand", as the opener and first single "Into Oblivion (Reunion)" blows "Welcome To The Black Parade" right out of the sky, as the hugest track I had otherwise heard for a long time. I am however going to stop myself before I get into describing the album in too much detail, because no matter what I write, there's so much external stuff around this release, that you're going to form an opinion on your own regardless. What I will say, is that this record is easily good enough that it deserves you checking it out in as openminded a state as you can manage before you write it off as just another radio-rock album, as its only striking weakness is that it might be just a bit too straightforward. A little experimentation would not have hurt it, but even with the safety on, it's still a more than decent effort.

Download: Into Oblivion, The Great Wide Open, All Hands On Deck Part 1 & 2
For the fans of: Amber Pacific, Armor For Sleep, Fightstar, Finch
Listen: MySpace

Release Date 14.05.2007
Atlantic Records

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