FFAF have a lot to answer for - after all, they're one of the bands responsible for this silly diluted genre mess we've currently found ourselves in the middle of. Funeral were a band championed by pretty much everybody after a string of solid EPs; although to be fair they were pretty much a different band entirely back in the days when 'The Art of American Football' sounded completely out of place on the radio. An album came and didn't quite live up to expectations, although it still sold by the bucketload and the band lapped up success on both sides of the Atlantic. 'Hours' is the follow-up and, it would seem, deliberately sets out not to be 'Casually Dressed...' part two.
'Hours' is a lot more mature than its predecessor. It may sound like a lazy, cliched thing to say to describe a band's sophomore record, but with less screaming, more singing and an emphasis on structure rather than style, FFAF will probably regain some of the points they lost when they released the ultra poppy 'CDADIC'. 'Hours' starts off so well, too. 'All The Rage' and 'Streetcar' are FFAF at their best - a band that are aggressive yet maintain a semblance of melody, moulding together melodic choruses with harsher guitar riffs. Even the silly spoken word bit in the band's first single seems to work so much better on this record, as opposed to when you hear it as a single. Terry Date's production does sound big, but for the man who handled Deftones' 'White Pony' opus, it's perhaps not as big as it could be.
'Hours' falls down because its middle section, while more mature etc etc, isn't as captivating or interesting. The structures waver and bend, with some of the slower songs coming across as musically impressive, but don't really strike too many chords with myself. 'Monsters' and 'End of Nothing's are belters in my book, with 'Sonny' also picking things up a bit. When you think of how generic and cliched 'Hours' could have been, this is a bit of welcome relief. Ditching the screaming has served the band well and will hopefully stop inducing a raft of mini-clones that throw hissy fits whilst all dressed in black. There are some standout tracks here and it will enforce the band's reputation as being one of the UK's better bands in this genre. If you love the emo/screamo music, then you'll almost certainly love 'Hours' - there may even be some new converts, but don't expect this record to turn even the most harden of critics.
www.funeralforafriend.com
Paul
