Conduit – Funeral For A Friend

The sixth studio album by Funeral For A Friend encompasses a much more aggressive style than their previous work. Whilst Funeral For A Friend are no stranger to heavy and aggressive styles, as it has been used by the band in the past, it seems though that they’ve dived into the style in full force for ‘Conduit’. It is an interesting album by the band, as it includes many of the formulas of the metal genre. There’s aggressive guitars and manic pacing to the songs, which is a style that is fairly difficult to make sound original or interesting. It seems though that Funeral For A Friend have managed to embrace the style easily and with comfort, and managed to use the genre’s strengths to help make ‘Conduit’ a good record.

What I find interesting about ‘Conduit’ is that in a technical sense, it’s not that much different from other hardcore albums. There’s screaming vocals, and heavy guitar riffs and so on and so forth, and this is incredibly common within the genre, and these days is now perhaps a boring technique to use. Yet, it seems that Funeral For A Friend have used this style in a strong way, making it sound interesting and great. There’s dynamics on the record, with the album shifting around every now and then, giving the whole album character and flair and keeping it interesting. The whole album seems to give off a sense of creativity from the band, giving me the idea that they’ve at least thought carefully about the material they’ve written for the album, and thought carefully about how they want it to sound on the album. The end result is an album full of aggression that is ultimately an interesting listening experience. Whatever it was that Funeral For A Friend have attempted to do on this album, it seems to have worked.

‘Conduit’ isn’t an amazing album by any means though, and it certainly isn’t the best in its genre. For one thing, it is actually a fairly short album, clocking in at just under 30 minutes. In a way, this is both a strength and a weakness, as it means that there’s just enough material on the album for it to stay interesting and not get boring. However, it can also leave the listener wanting just that little bit more on the album. Either way, I wouldn’t say that the sound on the album is particularly strong. The album feels very dirty and raw, which gives it a lot of character, and certainly makes it interesting. I though just can’t decide if this works well in the album’s favour, or whether it actually let’s the album down. I do feel to a point that ‘Conduit’ might not be the best Funeral For A Friend album that they’ve released, though at the same time, it certainly isn’t a bad record by any means. I just find it slightly hard to award it more points than what I would, as whilst it is interesting, there’s not a great deal that is absolutely amazing or awe-inspiring. At the same time though, It doesn’t really need to do this, as it’s just an album of material that is just good and nothing more.

I feel that ‘Conduit’ is a good record in some ways. To a point, I feel that the genre is a little overdone these days, and that there’s very little a band can do to make it incredibly interesting. Funeral For A Friend have certainly tried, and in some ways, succeeded in making the genre interesting, but at the same time, it’s not amazing. I find it hard not to compare ‘Conduit’ to ‘Temper Temper’ by Bullet For My Valentine. To a point, the two albums cover a lot of the same ground, and yet one has managed to succeed in making it sound well (Conduit), and the other has managed to succeed in making it sound incredibly clichéd and boring (Temper Temper). It’s interesting, considering how the two albums have been released in relatively close time to each other. Perhaps the comparison isn’t valid, but it is just the sense I get having listened to the two albums. I certainly feel that Funeral For A Friend are at least doing some things right, and that they’ve managed to release another good record.

Album Rating:

• ★★★☆☆ 3/5
  

Selected Songs:

• Best Friends and Hospital Beds
• Nails
• Death Comes To Us All
• Elements