Funeral For A Friend - Casually Dressed and Deep In Conversation

The scene: I am in a bar somewhere in a dimly lit part of town. I am surrounded by young emo-core rockers…rocking out and dressed to the nines in black. They shout terms like “No! You DEF rock.” I visit the bar to drown myself in my own def rockingness only to find that there are no adult beverages being sold. The first band has completed their emotionally-charged set, and it’s time for the next band to take the stage. They def rock! Ok. That never happened, but after listening to Welsh rockers, Funeral For a Friend and their debut US release, Casually Dressed and Deep In Conversation, it was obvious that I really wasn’t missing much of a show. In this metallic emo-core world of today, it’s hard to turn on the radio or the television and find bands who don’t sound like Funeral For a Friend. These bands are like rocks coated with gold: What it’s wrapped in isn’t always what it actually is. Funeral For a Friend (which I thought was a Superman reference, but is in fact an ELTON JOHN reference...Superman would have been way cooler) aren’t telling me a story I haven’t heard before with their music: Teen angst finds Teen love induces Teen break-up instigates Teen questioning the meaning of life before Teen finds love again leaving Teen to start the process over and over again. It’s Nature’s course, but must it continue? Had this album been a live show and I had been in attendance, I would be the person ensnared in awkward moments of clapping during the songs’ pauses thinking it was done. It was as if I was hearing one 49 minutes and 35 second long track! Each song was centered, somewhat, around the same theme (if not the same emotions) given the same vocal and instrument arrangement, and nowhere during my many listens did I find one song that distinguished Funeral For a Friend from every other band out there today. In a day and age where there is a fuzzy line between novel and reiterated music, Funeral For a Friend are destined to be another band who will fade with the coming years, unless they figure out a way to outlast the current trends and play genuine music. There is one exception, which is the marvelous thing about this whole quest. “Your Revolution Is a Joke” is the one tune that breaks free from all the gutteral, deep-throated screamo landscape that find itself polluting the album. This tune is actually the reason why I have decided to not totally downgrade this album, regardless of the other songs that mêlée with my sensibility. Lead singer Matt Davies, when controlling his voice, seems to have, well…feeling. He could have afforded to use this voice through out the album. Regardless, venturing out to buy this album is totally up to you, the reader and the loyal Funeral For a Friend fan. For those of you who want more form and function to your music, I would suggest you spend your money more wisely and on an album with a little thing I like to call "substance." [www.funeralforafriend.com]