Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Astonishingly good debut, 15 Oct 2003
My first real experience of Funeral for a Friend was their set at the 2003 T in the Park festival, and I must say I was a little underwhelmed. Most of the songs seemed a little formulaic, based around the Thursday approved formulae of melodic vocal/screaming/big riff/end. Well what can I say - where did it all go right?! This album deserves to stand along with Hundred Reasons' "Ideas Above Our Station" and Hell is for Heroes' "Neon Handshake" as one of the great British emo albums. The fast paced opener "Rookie of the Year" is a superb start, closely followed by brilliant recent singles "Bullet Theory" and "Juneau"; the latter a masterclass in post-hardcore riffery, the former a menacing yet soaringly melodic track. After such a storming start, you could expect and forgive a slight dip in quality with the subsequent tracks (for the record, Hundred Reasons were particularly guilty of this). However, Funeral for a Friend only go and pull out the greatest track on the album, "Bend Your Arms to Look Like Wings", a song which is as near perfect as this genre of music can get. Indeed, the only song which dips below top quality is the rather Funeral-by-numbers "Waking Up", although this may reflect badly due to it following on from the immensely affecting acoustic "Your Revolution is a Joke". And that's not even mentioning the metallic crunch of "Red is the New Black", or the stunning breakdown of "She Drove me to Daytime Television" (great title). Funeral for a Friend had a lot to live up to, being touted as Kerrang's Best New British Band. And they lived up to it. Oh yes.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Album!!, 16 Mar 2004
I bought 'Casually Dressed...' after hearing Juneau on the TV, not expecting anything amazing but an album that was entertaining to fill up my minidisc a bit. When i listened to it through the whole time i was blown away. As a fan of heavy music from bands such as Slayer and Pantera and also softer bands like Staind and Incubus, FFAF's album was absolutely PERFECT for me. It combines very musical and melodic songs such as 'Bend your arms to look like wings' with heavierish songs such as 'Rookie of the Year' i loved it.On the technical side most of the songs are composed of a backing guitar with another one riffing over the top to create a deep, musical feel to most of the songs. This coupled with amazingly heart wrenching lyrics, for example the slow part of 'Escape Artists Never Die' where he repeats "Please someone help me, I'm dying here in front of you". The only song that drags the album back slightly is 'Your Revolution is a Joke' as it is a very soft, acoustic song and seems out of place in the midst of the rest of the songs. That's just my opinion though some people may disagree. This is a fantastic album if your into emo, with my personal favorites being 'Rookie of the Year', 'Bend Yours Arms to Look Like Wings', 'Moments Forever Faded'. I've still got the whole album on my minidisc and it will stay there for a while yet! Highly reccomended!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funeral For A Friend, The Begining., 10 Nov 2003
A fantastic debut by the Welsh quintet, Funeral For A Friend (FFAF) really brings together metal, punk and post hardcore emo into one exhilarating album.Melody, aggression and pure emotion are one of the many words that spring to mind when listing to FFAF and the album includes new versions of the popular tracks "Juneau" and "Red Is The New Black" which featured on the bands first ep of two: "Between Order And Model" Casually Dressed And Deep In Conversation has been acclaimed by critics everywhere and the music industry has already hailed FFAF as the new Nirvana. Many fans of the band think that the music has been commercialised for the album, but amazing tracks such as "Bullet Theory" and "Rookie Of The Year" show that FFAF have retained the aggression that they are now well known for. Most tracks on the album are full of energy and emotion, but this is balanced out by "Your Revolution Is A Joke" a surprising acoustic addition, which really showcases the lead singer's phenomenal vocals and adds a much needed breather toward the end of the album. All in all it is a commendable debut and a definite buy. FFAF are band to watch out for in the future because I foresee very little slowing down this wave of incredibly talented musicians.
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