Review Summary: Easily forgettable. Better luck next time?
Roses For The Dead
So I’m really starting to face that facts that if a band comes out with a decent debut album, they fall into a sophomore slump. If they conquer a sophomore slump with an impressive second album, then the third album is the butt bite where the band falls. I guess to face it, a lot of things come to encounter in a bands experience and there ability to write quality new material. Funeral For A Friend is a Welsh band that’s swept over the states with it’s pop-punk melodies and post-hardcore qualities. They’ve been a core group that’s really impressed me and influenced my own band’s sound from back in the day, and I am 100% proud to say just that. Seeing how that statement will tell how much I’m a fan of the band, take this into consideration as in the review. I’ve been blessed enough to see this band live and thoroughly enjoyed the event. They play each song near flawlessly and even add little parts that aren’t on the records. So honestly, what was this band thinking during Tales Don’t Tell Themselves. There is usually a positive aspect to such a statement but I don’t believe there is a positive answer to what unfolded when I listened to the album. Let me first state that if you’re a previous fan of this band like I was, BECAREFUL and sample this before purchasing.
Tales Don’t Tell Themselves
This album kicks off with no bang like in the previous albums. If you want my honest interpretation “Into Oblivion (Reunion)” sounds like the news alert songs when there’s a newsflash on your local television. The song would have been much more preferably if it just opened up with the instruments and not the choir harmonizing in the background. The first thing I noticed was how overproduced the vocals by Matt Davies was compared to previous albums. The vocals in the first song isn’t bad by any means but they seemed really painted and fabricated by studio work. The song gets really bright and loud by chorus but remains to be low and subtle with bass and passive guitar work in the verses. Incredibly poppy, already. “The Great Wide Open”, without a doubt is my favorite song off of this album but I can only hold in a sub-par light compared to the previous work of this band.
The song starts off with the usual vintage, fat, distortion riffs that are popular on previous albums. The song also has vocals that fit more to Matt Davies style in my opinion then “Into Oblivion”. The song is also at a faster pop-punk pace, and contains a lot of hooks and catches. The chorus singing is especially catchy, and the whole song will lead the listener into the album more, but also at the same time leads them on… “The Diary” starts off with unoriginal, unconventional, pop-punk like riffage.
I mean if you ask me, I can swear that every pop-punk band has at least one sound that follows the same riff and key. The vocals once again are very soft and fitting to most other pop-punk singers in the unoriginal genre. Standard procedure in the song construction and very uninspiring to say the least. Everything but, this band should be about by now.
“On A Wire” carries on with it’s clean and twangy intro riff and is immediately taken by the vocals. It’s obvious that a song like this has the focal point on the vocals. The thing is that Matt Davies isn’t a bad vocalist but really has no progression from album to album IMO. If I listen to something from “Casually Dress…”, it basically will sound along the same line as something on “Tales Don’t Tell Themselves”. The song just moves at a molasses pace and doesn’t give anything the listener to brag about by making it all the way to the end. “Part 1: Raise The Sail” is one of the better songs on the album that seem tolerable but once again in comparison seems lacking. The vocals are catchy and not slow moving in this song and nor is the music. The guitar finally has seemed to liven up during this song but really seems pretty conventional in terms of “going anywhere”. The choruses will leave you on a rollercoaster throughout the song and is very enjoyable to bob your head or tap your foot too. I found the orchestra backing section during the interlude to be a very nice touch to the song making it a little more original. I’ll give them points for that… but “Open Water” comes into transition with solo vocals by Matt Davies. The music slowly trembles in and Matt Davies speaks of the ocean and the sea, and his fear of water. Yeah, it kind of sounds corny but I’ll give an artist the right to speak of whatever he wants except it’s very boring when it’s verse-chorus-verse-interlude-outro is just repeating one after another with little to no hooks or catches… just loops.
“Out Of Reach” was the first song that FFAF released and showcased for the new album. It follows the same steps as “The Great Wide Open” and is a good song. The FFAF trademark like distortion is similar to the “Hours” album on this track and is basically a tease to remind you of how good the last album was. The song feels like it puts the shock paddles on the listener to try and save him from flat lining from listening, and indeed brings a lot of energy with just that. The vocals here is a hit with me with a catchy chorus and flowing verses. I won’t even say quality verses because right now I just want these verses not to move at a painstakingly slow pace and I’ll be happy.
How come this song sounds like a filler by Story Of The Year though? “One For The Road” decides to put the back at a slow, poppy, and just SLOWER pace. The lyrics are so bad during the first verse that I just giggle. I’m not saying that FFAF has always had amazing lyrics but they always had a lot of good lines here and there before…
Quote:
There are miles left to walk
And this desert never lies
Broken bottles on the floor
Cigarette kisses on the walls - WTF?
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..Atleast the bass line during the verses is somewhat moving. “Walk Away” is a song with a tad more pep but still poppy as anything.
If you haven’t noticed already, I’ve used the word “POPPY” a lot. It’s a lot of what you’ll get in this album. Kind of shocking for a post-hardcore act, right? The vocals in this song feel like moaning more than anything and the lyrics might win over a little girl in middle school who needs inspiration but they don’t cut it for me. “The Sweetest Wave” was an interesting last song. I’ve found it to have the most effort put into it with the piano, and orchestra in the background. The vocals are stand-able and in a way for a ballad, it feels really good. As the song fails on the level to be anything epic it still presents a more positive view of what this album could have been about.
Out Of Reach
It’s kind of weak how a post-hardcore act had an iconic album of “Casually Dressed…” has fallen so hard on this album. I’ve heard people call this album with one word- “sad”. I loved “Casually Dressed…” and thought that “Hours” was highly underrated and still a good album. “Hours” mixed a lot of hard rock tunes with some softer stuff but to weight my thoughts on it, I loved song’s like “History”. I really can’t say the same here, but then again a lot of these songs are incredibly mediocre and unoriginal. Really weak how a band that was considered to be leading the scene started copying off of everyone else. As for the screaming that everyone seems to love in the genre, it feels like those days are gone now. I’m okay with letting that go, but whatever happened to that guitar player who wrote some inspiring riffs that I wanted to play? I’m putting in “Hours” and trying to forget about this ASAP.
Cons:
- Generic Overall
- Some of the lyrics are just ridiculous
- Vocals can be irritating on some tracks
- Incredibly Slow to get through fully
