Posted: Saturday 25th October 2008

Reviewed by James Turley

With the disaster of Tales Don't Tell Themselves firmly put behind them, it's time for Funeral for a Friend to move on and finally take their deserved hold upon the alternative rock scene. They lost bassist Gareth Davies during recording, quit their record label and had seemingly dropped off the radar altogether thanks to the dull, samey struggle that was their third album. However, with more intimate performances this year backed up by pre-album single releases for some of the best songs they've come up with so far, much has been made of what's yet to come. No one need to have worried though, because Memory and Humanity is a stunning and welcome return to form.

By escaping the over-polished and sloppy concept of TDTT and returning to their roots, they've made a monster of an album. Based largely on the heavier and intricate guitar rock which made them, it's obvious they're looking backwards in order to move forward. Yet the real reason these thirteen tracks manage to stand up so well is thanks largely to the continuation of Matt Davies' epic vocal style as seen on their failed third release. Despite a troubled couple of years, they're suddenly right back on their game with the freedom and maturity to creatively express themselves in exactly the way they want. It all goes to show that the last five years' touring, recording and pursuing the dream weren't in vain and the sudden wealth of experience they have over many other alternative rock bands really makes a difference to the basic song-writing. Funeral have managed to keep their original drive and use their know-how to mould every individual song into a beast, be it with near-metal riffs or a huge sing-a-long anthem.

As for the songs themselves, they're of such quality that any number could well get a single release and perform well. The stomping duo of Beneath the Burning Tree and Kicking & Screaming have already received such treatment, but indeed it could well have been the ranging sounds of You Can't See the Forest for the Wolves or even the straight-up heavy rock of Ghosts. Plenty of styles are introduced by the band, rather than sticking to the one samey sound which many of the current generation would do well to avoid. There's Constant Illuminations and Waterfront Dance Club which rock as hard as anything they've done, while the slower Charlie Don't Surf manages to evade the path of pretentious twaddle to such an extent that it's an album highlight rather than being yet another drippy ballad by another emo band.

I would go as far to say that this is perhaps the best thing they've done so far, or at least as good as their stunning debut Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation which exploded so refreshingly back in 2003. There's charm, passion, the occasional controlled heavy rock freak-out; it's a breath of fresh air and exactly what they and their fans needed. It's not perfect by all means and probably not to everyone's taste, but Memory and Humanity is still a great modern album from what is fast becoming a great modern band.