Funeral for a Friend – Chapter and Verse

Difficult to believe it’s been more than ten years since Funeral for a Friend first broke through, but Chapter and Verse provides a handy opportunity to catch up. On first listen, Pencil Pusher and You Should Be Ashamed of Yourself seem to plough the same post-hardcore furrow as the excitable twentysomethings behind 2003’s debut Casually Dressed and Deep In Conversation. Closer inspection reveals some minor developments, however: gone are the extraneous nods to Iron Maiden, with a punkier riffology in their place. Matt Davies-Kreye’s vocal has changed too, with his once-melodious whine disintegrated to a guttural bark.

This doesn’t explain why a man from Bridgend should still affect a painfully transparent sub-American accent in his mid-30s (most awkwardly exposed on the acoustic Brother), nor the tricky question of how a band can fail so spectacularly to progress – even by accident – over the course of a decade. Still, ‘more of the same’ should be enough for their ever-rabid fanbase.