Funeral For A Friend - "Tales Don't Tell Themselves" (Mighty Atom/Atlantic/Warner Bros.)

Welsh superstars return with their most radio-friendly disc to date

"Into Oblivion (Reunion)", the first single and album opener, starts things off very much as they mean to go on: massive choruses, great instrumentation, hooks galore and tight playing and writing.

It must be said that I was originally sceptical about their new, more commercial direction - apart from "Into Oblivion", I had heard a couple of tracks on HMV's radio station (I spend a lot of time in there), and thought that the songs sounded just alright, rather than great. But, having listened to this album in its entirety, it certainly has a completely different impact as a single, cohesive body of work.

To put it simply, this is a very good album. True, it doesn't have the punky urgency or anger as their debut (2003's Casually Dressed & Deep In Conversation - one of my favourite albums ever), the band members have clearly grown as musicians, and the writing on Tales Don't Tell Themselves is more daring and they appear to have pushed the envelope more than they ever seemed brave enough to do. It's an effort that has certainly paid off.

Unfortunately, there is only so much that can be written about the album, other than it's really very well written and a very satisfying listening experience. Summery without being sickly, catchy as it needs to be, this is an album that will work very well with the top down, and cruising along in sunny California. Which just makes it so very weird that these guys are from Wales...

Other tracks that stand out are "The Great Wide Open", "The Diary" (nice additional female vocals), "Out Of Reach" (a heavier, faster track) to name but three.

A refreshing breath of fresh air from a band distancing themselves from the Emo crowd. Recommended.

www.funeralforafriend.com / www.myspace.com/funeralforafriend

Sonic Syndicate - "Only Inhuman" (Nuclear Blast)

Sonic Syndicate are a breath of fresh air for the Melodic Death Metal genre. Blending the driving, technically impressive and above all melodic instrumentation that we have all come to love from this genre, Sonic Syndicate take it yet another step further with their vocals, joining the prestigious ranks of In Flames and Soilwork as bands willing to utilise a more conventional singing style, along with their (readily understandable) screams and roars.

It’s hard to believe that they needed to join a competition to get a record deal, as the strength of their music is near-unparalleled. A nod from Anders Friden of In Flames fame won’t hurt much, either!

While a cohesive body of work, Only Inhuman comprises 12 unique tracks, mixing more melodic moments with heavier, fist-pumping metal. With the brothers Sjunnessen forming the back-bone of the band (Richard on vocals, Roger and Robin on guitars – and what amazing guitar playing!), Karin Axelsson providing bass duties as well as some vocals, John Bengtsson pounding the drums and further vocals provided by Roland Johansson, the band are able to provide a diverse sound that sounds fresh, urgent and so very, very catchy. While recognisably Melodic Death Metal, the band have managed to create a sound that remains very much their own, without paying overt homage to any of their influences. An admirable feat for a genre that has started to sound more and more formulaic and just a little stale (check out Dark Tranquility’s latest, Fiction, for sad proof of this).

From the opening bars of “Aftermath” to the closing notes of “Flashback” (and everything in between), Only Inhuman presses all the right buttons, never allowing the pace of delivery to drop. The songs are huge, anthemic and infectious. It’s almost impossible not to fall immediately in love with this band (and their strikingly beautiful bass player).

If you like heavy, melodic music, Sonic Syndicate are your new favourite band. Only Inhuman is as close to flawless as an album can get.

Stand-out Tracks: “Psychic Suicide”, “Double Agent 616”, “Callous”… I know I’ve said this before, but every single song on Only Inhuman requires your immediate attention. An essential 2007 purchase.

http://www.sonicsyndicate.com / www.myspace.com/sonicsyndicate

3 Mile Scream - "A Prelude To Our Demise" (Corporate Punishment)

Blistering metal for the new generation.

Following in the wake of multiple plaudits from peers and fans alike, 3 Mile Scream’s debut was a hotly anticipated release. It would seem that almost everyone in the heavy music world has been impressed by this band – including (most notably) Arch Enemy, God Forbid, Unearth, Byzantine, Kataklysm, and Unearth. Everyone who’s come in contact with the band seems to have something very positive about 3 Mile Scream. You can add MWRI to this growing list (even though we have nowhere near the pull of the aforementioned fans).

To begin with, ‘Scream’ is a good word to include in their monicker, and Matt McGachy can certainly do this with great aplomb! His less extreme vocals are also not bad, and add a great melodic element to the band’s sound. Unlike some bands, when you’ll be particularly impressed by a certain facet of the band’s sound, 3 Mile Scream appear to be one of those bands which manage to create a cohesive whole, with every member’s input being as equally important to the final product as the next. This is particularly evident on the first song proper on the album, “Mourning The Lost” which, starting as the band mean to continue, hits us with a sucker-punch of speed, brutality and tempered melodic moments that would make even the most cynical metal fan hit the repeat button. ("Confession" is another particularly fine song.)

As good as this album is, it’s not reinventing the wheel to any great extent, but the band do a very good job of providing their listeners with enough diversity and inspired song-writing to keep everyone interested from beginning to end. This is particularly evident on “Forced Entry”, perhaps my favourite song on the album (and could actually qualify for a single).

One might mistakenly slot them into the metalcore genre, but 3 Mile Scream have such a diverse pallet (including Thrash, Death Metal, Melodic Metal, and perhaps Hard Rock) that it might just be better to call them Metal (capital ‘M’, of course).

Furious, brutal, fast, in-your-face, technically impressive and occasionally melodic in all the right moments, A Prelude To Our Demise provides much for every heavy music fan.

Surely now the album is available, the praise will only snowball. Well worth checking out.

www.myspace.com/3milescream