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Rating: Striking setback for Welsh band Funeral For A Friend, who with this "Tales Don'Tell Themselves" from 2007 definitively take the path of "commercial" pop rock (a very ugly word, I know), abandoning the good mix of hardcore, emo, metal, and rock that characterized them in "Casually Dressed And Deep In Conversation" and "Hours".
There is nothing of the above-mentioned genres in this album: a lot of predictable rock, that's for sure, adorned with choruses, strengthened by big guitars, sweetened by ballads, but it remains always and unfortunately a mostly predictable product, which is not expected from a band of this type.
A concept centered on the story of a sailor shipwrecked on a deserted island, the album sails (or rather, floats) moderately swiftly, in the sense that it is listenable, memorable for some catchy tracks, but ultimately leaves nothing more than a bitter sense of a missed opportunity.
"Into Oblivion" opens the dances: an overall nice and pleasant track, very melodic and immediate, reminiscent in some ways of certain moments of "Hours" especially in the verses, before launching into a chorus with epic ambitions. Unfortunately, after this track there's little or nothing... I would just save the energetic "The Great Wide Open", with its tight rhythm that visibly drops halfway through with a break that doesn't stick in my head at all (and often forces me to stop and skip beyond) and the first part of "All Hands On Deck" (called "Raise The Sail"), which is also somewhat energetic and adrenaline-fueled.
The rest is calm seas, a bit empty and predictable melodies, piled one on top of the other which, as mentioned, are well-played and produced, but certainly do not raise the average level of the album, quite the opposite.
Unfortunately, I find myself having to fail "Tales Don'Tell Themselves". From what I've heard, even the following (and for now last album of theirs) "Memory And Humanity" sounds more or less like this work. Well, if it really is so, I prefer to stick with the old FFAF, those of "Casually Dressed And Deep In Conversation" and "Hours" (the latter album I have always greatly appreciated), and continue to hope that they recover from these two shipwrecks and start sailing swiftly again toward shores much more suited to them.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Into Oblivion (Reunion) (04:23)
The days I've felt alone.
And the sea, it brings me back again.
So that I can see my wife.
And I can see my child.
Home, I'm home, it never changes,
Same old faces, same old places.
I stared into oblivion and found my own.
I stared into oblivion, into oblivion.
Find in me the home,
That you have never known.
Find in us the faith.
The faith to bring you home.
I stared into oblivion and found my own.
I stared into oblivion and found my own.
I stared into oblivion, and found my own reflection there.
(reflection there)
Home. Now that I'm coming home,
Will you be the same as when I saw you last?
Tell me how much time has passed? x3
I stared into oblivion (and found my own).
I stared into oblivion (and found my own).
I stared into oblivion (and found my own).
I stared into oblivion and found my own reflection there.
04 On a Wire (03:57)
I'm on fire
Close to the water
And I'll be saved again
Staring at the ocean, over and over
Will I ever see them again?
Why believe SOS?
Find a way to bring me home
I'm wanna be alone again, again
Find a ship to take me home
I don't wanna be alone again
Not again, not again, not again, not again
I'm on a wire, over the border
And I'll be saved again
Living on an island, over and over
I don't think I see them again
Why believe SOS?
Find a way to bring me home
I don't wanna be alone again
Not again, not again, not again, not again
As the daylight fades (daylight fades)
I am a broken man, all alone
As daylight fades (daylight fades)
And I'm just a broken man
All alone, with no home
Find a ship to take me home
I don't wanna be alone again
Not again, not again, not again, not again
Find a ship to take me home
I don't wanna be alone again
Not again, not again, not again, not again
05 All Hands on Deck, Part 1: Raise the Sail (03:27)
Horizon shows the signs,
the eye is getting closer,
birds don't fear the sky,
the clouds are looming over,
the vessel breaks the back it takes,
another wave that we must face.
Raise the sail,
as we all,
feel powerless.
Raise the sail,
as we all,
feel powerless.
Bloody hands reach out,
violence breaks my body,
drowning in the sea,
lifeboats lost without them,
the vessel breaks the it takes,
another wave that we must face.
Raise the sail,
as we all,
feel powerless.
Raise the sail,
as we all,
feel powerless.
Drowning in the wake,
as we all feel powerless.
Under crests of stars, water breaks a broken heart.
Under crests of stars, water breaks a broken heart.
Under crests of stars, water breaks a broken heart.
09 Walk Away (03:46)
All the words that we have to say
They don't leave when the moment comes
We know we have to wait
As the days go on and the places fade away
to dirt and to dust, it all fade away
And the waiting is the hardest thing to take
In an moment more before we break
If you have to let it go
And these dreams keep you awake
If you have to let it go
Walk away
In the shapes we want to see
Don't leave another piece that this puzzle needs
And the waiting is the hardest thing to take
In an moment more before we break
If you have to let it go
And these dreams keep you awake
If you have to let it go
Walk away
And the waiting is the hardest thing to take
In an moment more before we break
If you have to let it go
And these dreams keep you awake
If you have to let it go
Walk away
If you have to let it go
And these dreams keep you awake
If you have to let it go
Walk away (walk away)
If you have to let it go
And these dreams keep you awake
If you have to let it go
Walk away (walk away)
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