Funeral For A Friend - Welcome Home Armageddon

  by Kelly Smith

published: 6 / 4 / 2011

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Review

As a rule, I don’t like intro tracks. They are 45 seconds of nothing much, and they do little to endear me to the album which follows. 'Welcome Home Armageddon' features such an intro, so imagine my surprise when I realised that despite their pointless track 1, this album is among the absolute best I have listened to in recent years. YEARS! Funeral For A Friend, the Welsh 5-piece pop/punk/rock/scream/hardcore (any combination of the above seems to be appropriate) outfit have returned following their 2008 album 'Memory and Humanity' with their latest offering, 'Welcome Home Armageddon'. The album is an essential addition to any FFAF fan collection, and a brilliant introduction to the band for those who have been otherwise engaged for the last ten years. There is not one single filler track here. Every song is musically and lyrically beautiful and carefully placed to create an album which is heavy and bouncy, upbeat and serious at the same time. 'Front Row Seats to the End of the World' is an unnecessarily wordy title to an utterly sublime track. The screamo chorus by drummer Ryan Richards sounds heavier than the rest of the album put together and is perfectly juxtaposed with frontman Matthew Davies-Kreye’s beautifully clear vocal. The track is classic and modern in a way which makes you excited to hear what comes next. New single 'Sixteen' is an instant classic of pop punk melody and energetic vocals. It’s the sort of track which sounds like it has been around for years, and I don’t mean to insult FFAF by saying that. The song is utterly timeless; so much so that after the first listen it will form such an important part of your pop punk playlist that you’ll wonder how you have managed to fill that hollow up until this point. The punchy riffs and angsty lyrics ("beating hearts against a tide of one") are reminiscent of the very best this genre has had to offer in ten years. Deceptive track 'Owls (Are Watching)' begins softly and quietly and sounds like a departure from Funeral For A Friend’s usual style, but it explodes into a melodramatic and theatrical song, showcasing the very best that can be achieved by a band of this calibre. It is the B-side to 'Sixteen', and deservedly so. Lyrically, musically, emotionally, it is the sort of album track you can spend years waiting for. Let’s just lay it all out there. I love it. If you’re looking for the pop punk album to herald the beginning of your summer season, this is it. Honestly, I can’t write enough about it. If anyone would like a short dissertation on why each track is ideally suited to your life, do get in touch. For those who don’t, please take my word for it - 'Welcome Home Armageddon' is quite literally perfect.

Track Listing:-

1 This Side Of Brightness
2 Old Hymns
3 Front Row Seats To The End Of The World
4 Sixteen
5 Afterstate
6 Spinning Over The Island
7 Man Alive
8 Owls (Are Watching)
9 Damned If You Do, Dead If You Don't
10 Medicated
11 Broken Foundation
12 Welcome Home Armageddon

Band Links:-

http://funeralforafriend.com/
https://www.facebook.com/funeralforafr
https://twitter.com/ffaf
https://www.youtube.com/user/FuneralTu
https://plus.google.com/10788102192882

Label Links:-

http://distillermusic.com/
https://twitter.com/distillermusic
https://www.facebook.com/distillerreco
https://www.youtube.com/user/livefromd
https://plus.google.com/+DistillerMusi
https://www.instagram.com/distillermus