In a throwback to about 5 years ago, two of my favourite bands from back then have released new albums. Unlike a lot of the music in the same vein (which I guess you would call post-hardcore or some such nonsense), these bands have stayed with me and progressed enough that I think it would be criminal to lump them in with some of the other bands in the genre.
A Static Lullaby - Rattlesnake!
Well, you can tell from the title that this one is going to be a little bit more fun. I am not really sure how to describe A Static Lullaby, except that when they started, they were fairly indistinguishable from other bands such as Story of the Year and ... damn, do you know what? I really don't remember a lot of bands from back then. It just goes to show you how forgettable some of that music was. Anyway, they were screamy, a little bit hard, a little bit punk, but mostly screamy. For their second album they went fairly lacklustre (IMHO), but for the third they pulled out all the stops and decided to make something unique to them.
Their third album was dark and heavily themed. It still contained a lot of screaming and a little bit of the 'whiny' (though I do not mean that in a band way) contrasting vocals characteristic of their earlier albums, but stepped up the hard. The lyrics were heavy with dark themes of sexuality, and relationships that I didn't think came across in a cheesy way.
I guess I should talk about the album I am reviewing here. They seem to have kept the momentum from the last album going, while moving a little bit into the territory of Everytime I Die, with heavier, riff-driven guitars and plenty of chorus vocals. This is most obvious on the first track, but the whole album bears the influence. There has been only one stand-out, a song called the Prestige on Track 5, which seems to be about being a demon or the devil or something. It has a great, repeated lyric, heavy breakdown near the end. Other than that, there are no standouts, unless you count the cover of Britney Spears' Toxic; it seems to be just a really solid album, and therein lies my main issue. I wish the songs distinguished themselves from each other a bit more. That may be a first impressions thing though; sometimes when albums seem all the same, that just means it takes time to appreciate the nuances, a wholly rewarding experience.
I guess we'll see if that's the case. In the mean time, for a first impression, I will give this one a rating of...
7/10
Funeral for a Friend - Memory and Humanity
I am writing this one during my very first listen to it, so it really, truly, is a bonafide first impression.
The great thing about this one is that I think it could have very wide appeal. It's balladic, hard, and has some great guitar. I am wary of albums that I like so much on the very first listen, though; sometimes you get sick of them pretty fast. It really is a great album for them, though, falling somewhere between their first and second albums (this is the fourth) in terms of the sound.
To me, Funeral For a Friends strength has always been how tight their sound is. Every single instrument is there for a reason and contributes to the song. It just all sounds so .. deliberate. No one instrument in the band is really that unique, but they combine them together so well. Bah, I really need to practice my ability to describe music; this is tough.
I am not sure what else to say, but if you are a fan of this sort of music, this is one of the most worthy releases I have heard in a long time. I can't emphasize how much FFAF has borrowed from the strengths of each of their previous albums. My only critique here is that there is nothing really new, just reimaginings and recombination of what they have done before. The result, though, is a very strong album, where they seem very comfortable with their sound and do it well.
9/10.
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