I’ve always found FATA a difficult band to get stuck into. While loved by so many people – both fans and critics seemed to lap up ”Too bad you’re beautiful’ – I’ve never really been completely sold by them on record. I saw them live about 12-18 months ago and was suitably impressed to check them out on CD, but felt their recorded efforts didn’t give off the same energy and punch that their live show had. The more I listen to ‘Abandon Your Friends’, the more I feel the same. At times – such as ‘Where Do You Draw The Line’ – the dual vocals really hit the mark. Yet at others they sound a little wishy-washy and watered down (see ‘Inapprope’) and don’t have anywhere near the impact they should.
The guitar work is pretty impressive throughout, throwing in plenty of metallic riffs alongside the tub-thumping drums. The vocals tend to be on the more melodic side (the band use two vocalists, with drummer Francis Mark handling the singing parts and Benjamin Perri the screaming), although when the band do launch into the rip-roaring side they do so with vigour. ‘Short for Show’ is aggressive, while ‘Vicious Cock Fight’ is also an impressive beast. Kerrang! gave this 5Ks and I can’t for the life of me think why. Consistency is the key to any top quality record and I just don’t see that here. I’ll readily admit that this isn’t my favourite musical genre, not by a long shot, but the switch from screaming from both barrels in one song to a completely melodic track the next leaves the feeling that this is a CD put together by two different bands – or one with a real identity crisis. Maybe I’ve missed the point (and if I have, someone will no doubt correct me in the user reviews), but for me this lacks the qualities needed to be a classic, 5-star record.
Vagrant
Paul