Boys Night Out - Boys Night Out

Well here we go, let's follow up Trainwreck shall we boys? Now the question is how to do it. At first listen you may feel a little bit of pop genre, less if not no screaming and we all love group vocals right? "Get Your Head Straight" is a quick opener with recurring lyrics, but its catchy if anything. "Swift and Unforgiving" is also a little too repetitive and cliche with the lyric "Loose lips sink ships" and "We all drown." It gets the album going with cleaner guitars and a great display of the bands musical talent on an overall scale. "The Push and Pull" is a song of being "in love with conflict." Its a little dark yet still catchy. The first single "Up With Me" isn't necessarily a change of pace but it feels like an introspective song. It sings "I've changed, it's comforting." but is still a little too repetitive.
"The Heirs of Error" is an incredible song and the first time we get a taste of those group lyrics shouting "We will Rebuild." Its a song about inheriting the burden that those who came before us left. Its a song of the young knowing "We are going to pay for past mistakes" and that we are "ill equipped to handle this." The sixth track "Let Me Be Your Swear Word" is a more upbeat and melodic. We get that reminder of the alcohol driven angst of BNO singing "You and me and the bottle make three" and "This bottle's gonna to take us home tonight" making it an easily enjoyable song. Here's where it gets a little tricky... Are we sampling Trainwreck on "Hey, Thanks" or is it just the beginning. You have to love the "We all suffer together, but we all die alone" chorus and the group lyrics. "Fall for the Drinker" follows up opening dark and dreamy. It's a song toasting to us and to the drinkers of the world. Singing "We're all here now" and "Tonight, to hell with everything else/ We'll drink hard, we'll drink to ourselves" it gives a beautifully dark singalong song. "Apartment 4" is a little harder with an whining guitar to compliment the lyrics. This song and "Reason Ain't Our Long Suit" are stronger and thrashier than earlier songs on the album. "Reason" sounds like a mix of Trainwreck and Make Yourself Sick singing over and over "We're better than ever." Now for the song that you never saw coming "It Won't Be Long." Many fans might not talk about this song, but it begins slow with lyrics over a dark piano. Unable to place the song it reminds you of you have to keep listening. The lyrical styling is placed somewhere in the nineties, honestly. Its slow yet moves you a bit, and its a really good song, thats all you can say.
What else is there to say? Well to begin, a lot of people are going to hold Trainwreck as the best work the band has ever or will ever create. It could be true, Trainwreck was incredibly dark and sadistic, the kind of music you would continue to expect. Yet, it was a concept. It told the story, and now the story is over. There is only music now, and it is a strong followup to the records that were produced before it. By the way, don't mind the sticker on the packaging saying "Following in their own tradition of greatness, 'Boys Night Out' Will thrive alongside the likes of Thrice, Brand New and Fall Out Boy." It just sounds cocky and who still wants to stand up to Fall Out Boy?

3.8 out of 5 Stars

-- Bart Gentile

Funeral for a Friend Knitting Factory June 12, 2007

This is really the reason I made Tales Don't Tell Themselves the first post. I happened to go to the show on Tuesday and they really were still a great live band. To top it all off they are a UK band and although the Canadian outfit known as Alexisonfire showed them up a little Funeral was still adored by the fans. Here are some pictures that I took with a cell phone... I know I need a digital camera.
But you have to admit that a lot of emotion and heart goes into their live performance. Granted, it was the Knitting Factory in NYC where you could whisper and it would sound loud in such a small venue, but I walked out deaf. It was a very powerful show and the entire band was into it. Members of both Alexisonfire and Funeral crowdsurfed at some point and had an amazing stage presence. They didn't play too much off the new album. They kept it a strong and loud show and that's just what everyone wanted. As you can see in this last picture, they were well recieved by the fans in NYC.
I would definitely recommend seeing them, if not soon then at the Vans Warped Tour this summer.

Their upcoming dates are:
06/15/07 St. Louis, MO
06/16/07 Lawrence, KS
06/17/07 Colorado Springs, CO
06/19/07 Boise, ID
06/20/07 Seattle, WA
06/22/07 Orangevale, CA
06/23/07 Bakersfield, CA
06/24/07 San Diego, CA
06/26/07 West Hollywood, CA
06/27/07 Las Vegas, NV

Various Dates Scheduled Nationally for Warped Tour

Funeral for a Friend - Tales Don't Tell Themselves

Not a terrible concept.


Funeral for a Friend's third full length album has recently caused some debate among fans. With a very different sound to this concept album, fans may not like what they are hearing when they start listening. The story is terribly simple (Think Perfect Storm meets Cast Away), but is also very catchy. We have the main character who gets lost at sea, his crew is killed during the storm, he is presumably alone on an island wishing to be home. Into Oblivion (Reunion) starts off with a little technopop intro and very few lyrics in the song. It does set the stage thematically, which was the band's intention according to Matt Davies (lead singer), he has also been quoted saying that this album was a way to overcome his fear of the ocean. Great Wide Open has a great ending like most of the songs on the record, singing "the rush of the flood sends the blood to my head," and "climb out into the great wide open." The Diary isn't really anything completely special, but the back and forth between the male and female voice (the sailor and his wife) asking "When will you be coming home?" All Hands on Deck Part 1 : Raise the Sail sounds a little thrashier and leads into a very strong chorus. It shows a little bit of chaos maybe reminiscing the death of his crew and their loss of hope. It has a great lead into Part 2 : it follows a similar pattern with the music and keeps with the theme of death in the water. Out of Reach sounds most like their older and possibly better albums (Casually Dressed and Deep in Conversation and Hours). It is the part of the song where the ships are launching to search and perhaps giving up as the crew is "to far gone to be saved." One for the Road shows the wife's lament over her loss and that she is waiting for him to come home. It is a catchy tune like many of these songs and has a strong finish. The last two songs are Walk Away and The Sweetest Wave and hold up pretty well. The first is about letting go, maybe the sailor telling his wife to let go and walk away from his memory. The Sweetest Wave opens with a piano and string set with Davies singing over it very nicely. It brings the album to a close in a very cinematic way. Obviously intentional and slowly drawing it is probably the most redeeming track on the release. It doesn't save it entirely but it brings something back. Its a good story even in its simplicity. There are many elements to this album that would allow one to enjoy it, and yes it is much more mainstream than their previous releases. The people who are going to dislike and downplay this album are the ones who are in love with the emocore that started this band. If you were to appreciate the talent that went into this record and the risks they are taking by trying to break out of that "scene" label that was bestowed upon them, then you would absolutely enjoy it.

Introduction

Hey
How's it Going?
Well, this is the first post of the blog, and I am hoping that people will end up reading it. The intention of this is primarily to act as an archive for my own personal use, but I haven't decided yet if I want to get some friends in on this and make it a bigger operation. This will be used for album reviews, show reviews and sometimes general news that is related to the genre that will develop over the next few months. I will be handling it professionally or at least to the best of my ability. As an Arts & Entertainment editor I was used to getting very angry with my writers but I am taking this one a little slower. Obviously I don't have a guaranteed distribution or any at the moment, so I am sure I don't have anything to worry about. Hopefully, you will find something you like here and will return to read again.
Thanks.

--Bart