Mixing emotive vocals with hardcore styled aggression is fastly becoming cliche and overdone but for whatever reason, despite using such a formula Funeral For A Friend's music still manages to persevere. More intense in their combative moments than the bulk of their peers, this Welsh outfit bring to mind groups like The Used, Poison The Well, Haste and more and yet for whatever reason they still manage to establish an identity for themselves, never borrowing too directly from any influence which in turn puts them a step ahead of the rest of the current up and comers.

From enraged punched in the throat bellows to hooky emotional melodies, the bands dual pronged vocal performance is the key to the music's success and is easily their most engaging quality. Bordering on pop punk at times in delivery and then instantly descending into fiery metalcore wails the dynamic range present is superb and expertly complimented by the instrumentation which follows in the wake of the tumultuous oral path with a bevy of catchy post hardcore squeals and thrashy double kicked drumming barrages.

Perhaps its the fact that they aren't from North America and as such aren't bombarded with the commercial direction that this style of music has begun to take or perhaps they are just that self focused, but for whatever reason their combination of emo and hardcore elements sounds pure and organic, leaving it a refreshing experience overall. In a time where catchy emotional choruses and pugnacious breakdowns can often be seen coming a mile in advance, Funeral For A Friend instead choose to follow their own course and mix things up a bit, suggesting that if they can keep on this path and continue to evolve with each subsequent release their career won't be buried anytime soon.