Welcome Home Armagedon [Limited Edition]

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Funeral for a Friend were thinking about winding down after the line-up changes of recent years and the release of 2009’s best-of set, Your History Is Mine. But Welcome Home Armageddon proves quite the opposite. Both this disc and its predecessor, 2008’s Memory and Humanity, seem to have acted as MOTs for the band. While the first cracks to appear were quickly painted over, the departure of guitarist Darran Smith has been pointedly slow and deliberate. Today, the band sounds all the better for addressing their problems, having resolved them brilliantly.

It seems odd to suggest that FFAF have started to sound like themselves again after the relative departure of their classic rock-oriented, Gil Norton-produced album of 2007, Tales Don’t Tell Themselves. But it’s close to the truth, as Memory… re-established the post-hardcore hallmarks that the south Wales clan had become famous for, and now the group has improved upon them further. That album was good, but this is better.

After a slightly unnecessary intro track, Old Hymns bursts forth with technical guitars and pop-punk nous apparent in equal measure, before the superbly heavy Front Row Seats to the End of the World blows away any brightly coloured cobwebs. Drummer Ryan Richards screams his way through the verses before Matt Davies-Kreye adds the salve in the chorus. It’s just like the good old days.

Damned If You Do, Dead If You Don't and Sixteen are a couple of tracks taken from last year’s self-released EP, The Young and the Defenceless. Listening again, six months on, they certainly did give a good idea of the direction the band was about to take on their fifth full-length, as they fit seamlessly into the album. That they would slip just as well onto their debut, 2003’s Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation, is a sign of their timeless quality.

You might not expect a barnstormer from a track titled Owls (Are Watching), but this gentle, slowed-down and melodramatic song is an indicator as to how FFAF have progressed over time. Alongside Medicated, it’s a number that shows that once you learn how to write an epic ballad, you’ll always be able pull a handful of heartstrings.

FFAF have produced another pop-punk special with Welcome Home Armageddon – and, thankfully, they don’t look like stopping any time soon. Fingers crossed they can keep this set of band members for a while, and continue putting miles on the clock.

--Raziq Rauf

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Produced by previous collaborator Romesh Dodangoda, the band homed in on the essence of their new material in a way which would present the new tracks as being as true to their live show as possible. The result of this approach will no doubt send shivers down the spine of many a FFAF fan. Embracing the heady mix of raw heaviness and pure melody which helped establish the band s name when they were starting out, Matt describes the album as a fist in the face followed by a kiss on the cheek . The heavier vocals take an integral role on several of the tracks. Drummer / vocalist Ryan Richards commented on his contribution to Front Row Seats To The End of The World It was a lot of fun for me to do a lead vocal again on a track, as it's probably something I've not done since way back on the first record. The visceral explosion of riffs, screams and melody is one that fans of the band already know and love but the constant shifts of gear in rhythm and twists and turns in this track will keep everyone guessing as to what s round each corner. From the fast, punky feeling of Old Hymns , through the seven-string guitar led riff spectacular Aftertaste and the even more riff-heavy Spinning , FFAF have crafted an album of potential classics with each track as exciting and unpredictable as the one before it. Anthemic songs with killer melodies such as album closer Welcome Home Armageddon and Sixteen , which actually started life as an acoustic number, are further demonstrations of the band s songwriting prowess and their ability to incorporate a multitude of different musical elements. The apocalyptic sway in the title track of the album Welcome Home Armageddon is explained by vocalist Matt Davies-Kreye - A friend of mine was mentioning how he felt that the best thing for the planet was for the human race to just drop dead and at times I can see and understand his way of thinking but a big part of me has this (probably) misguided faith in humanity to kind of steer the ship in the right direction for a change. So 'Welcome Home Armageddon' is the idea of patiently waiting for the end to arrive at your doorstep and give you a nice big hug.