Funeral For A Friend - Welcome Home Armageddon Review

Knowing that the first thoughts from Funeral for a Friend fans anticipating the new album jump towards the “how will it compare to Casually Dressed and Deep In Conversation?” I have been at a loss of how to tackle this review: On one hand, every bone in my body wants to avoid such comparisons in fear of putting you all on a leash…but on the other hand I feel that if I do not compare Welcome Home Armageddon at least to some extent with Casually Dressed; I will not be able to write this review, for it DOES have similarities and it IS as good...and dare I say; better.

The album begins with a short guitar instrumental…. just as you start to feel its building up towards something, like the realisation of an idea coming to fruition "Old Hymns" bangs straight into your ear drums. Fast, furious, melodic and straight to the point. I was not ten seconds into the song and I found myself grinning from ear to ear and literally screaming ‘holy crap, they’re back’ inside my head. The double time drums, the metal licks, Matt Davies voice that we’ve all learnt to love pushing the song through with such conviction in his voice. “I used to mean something to you” sung in the breakdown, the mischievous side of my brain couldn’t help but imagine those words directed to the fans that thought they were becoming a spent force; a most worthy opener.

"Front Row Seats To The End Of The World" and "Sixteen" up next. Both songs leave you with a clear impression for what the band is all about. On the one side they have the ability to pull out the heavy riffs and screams; balancing them with melodic choruses and then they have their straight forward rock songs with sing along melodies and catchy hooks whilst still packing a serious musical punch. Not many bands are able to balance the two so well and they are clearly one of the forerunners within their genre.

"Sixteen" was previously released on their EP The Young and Defenceless. They released this as a single and I highly recommend you watch the video for it for it brings the song to a whole new level.

"Aftertaste", "Spinning Over The Island" and "Man Alive" give "Juneau", "Bend Your Arms To Look Like Wings" and "Escape Artists Never Die" (see Casually Dressed and Deep In Conversation) a run for their money as the best three track combo. One after the other – these songs provide the linchpin and identity for Welcome Home Armageddon. Aggressive when they need to be, melodic when they need to be and absolutely everything we want Funeral for a Friend to be. By this point of the album if you are still thinking they don’t have what it takes anymore then you may as well not be listening at all. Undertones from Casually Dressed are immediately recognizable in the vibe and musical progression in these songs. Kris Coombs and Gavin Burrough and have managed to encapsulate the same style riffs we all fell in love with on those albums years ago without making them feel like a simple rehash. Likewise, Matt Davies channels his best "bullet theory" impression in the verses on "Man Alive" whilst breaking into one of their best choruses to date...I could continuously gush over these three songs. These really are some of their finest songs to date; absolutely brilliant....full text An end of the world type scenario would be the last thing any Funeral for a Friend fan would want to experience. At least the skies of fire, cascading stars and swarming locusts could be so kind as to show some restraint until after the release of this Welsh band’s fifth full length album, Welcome Home Armageddon.

You see, there is simply too much at stake here for the band’s devoted followers. After the debut of the highly acclaimed Casually Dress and Deep in Conversation and the even more successful step forward in terms of the outfit’s second long player, Hours, this quintet has been dare one say – stagnant? Maybe not in terms of artistic ambition, as Tales Don’t Tell Themselves raised sails and navigated nautical themes, while Memory and Humanity saw the band attempting to progress even further into a distinct sound. Yet, one could sense Funeral for a Friend was seemingly preparing an end for themselves if they could not gain traction in a weakening songwriting department that proved so beneficial to them in earlier years. Fortunately, with the assistance of a couple fan funded projects, one being an extended play in The Young and Defenceless and the other being this release, Welcome Home Armageddon, Funeral for a Friend bring their fans an album that will annihilate previous mediocrity and revive the band in the hearts of their fans.

Speaking of utter destruction and annihilation, the amps here have been cranked to eleven and drummer Ryan Richards has more than a word or two to scream throughout multiple tunes as Funeral for a Friend have rediscovered their previously abandoned angst. Look no further than “Front Row Seats to the End of the World.” After a quiet opening, evident is the fact that Funeral for a Friend has a few necks to strain as this is arguably the heaviest the band has ever been. The strings of Kris Coombs-Roberts and Gavin Burrough resonate with reckless abandon while Richards shreds his throat, instantly recollecting memories of previous hard hitters such as “Red is the New Black” and “10:45 Amsterdam Conversations.” “Aftertaste” rips on by with a cocky swagger and a heaviness that is not outright overt, but leaves the listener lingering on the edge of every note, awaiting a near inevitable beat down. Even though Funeral for a Friend have supplemented their approach with an increase in bitter fury, these guys still remember how to spin some sugary sweet melodies....full text Funeral For A Friend's fans don't do lukewarm. They don't do quiet appreciation. They're a group whose solitary state of being is a kind of shrieking apoplexy in direct keeping with the music they love. With this lot, it's a given that a new album by their Welsh post-hardcore idols should immediately spark a hysterical stampede to HMV in the manner of the rage-filled zombies of 28 Weeks Later, storming over a field trying to eat Robert Carlyle's kids.

So, when 2007's Tales Don't Tell Themselves failed to charm these same fans with its conceptual yarns about a lonely fisherman, and follow-up Memory And Humanity landed to no more than muffled murmurs of discontent about a perceived change in direction towards stadium-friendly crowd-rock, it would have been understandable if Matt Davies and co had exchanged a few nervous glances about their turn to the soft, and thought about a drastic return to what they know.

So it was that last year's Young And Defenceless EP, a limited release, was widely taken as conscious effort to reconnect with the disillusioned with a shift back to their emo-metal roots and a distinctive return of their post-hardcore chug. And hot on its heels, new release Welcome Home Armageddon is once again causing brays of undead fervour amongst the FFAF-faithful. But those expecting a return to the days of Casually Dressed will be left wanting.

Armageddon is definitely a harking back - but not to the first album's glories. Instead it finds itself mired in a non-specific point in mid-noughties metal and, while there's proficiency in its recreation, FFAF seem to have too vague a view of this new direction for anything here to be on a par with Juneau, or Roses For The Dead....full text