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1Funeral for a Friend were a PostHardcore band from Bridgend, Wales. Formed in 2001, they released seven studio albums. Unlike most bands in the genre, Funeral For A Friend are influenced by NWOBHM and ThrashMetal. They are sometimes called emo or screamo, and acknowledge its influence on them. However, they consider themselves to play a unique style of music influenced by many genres, and for this reason, prefer to be called a hard rock or metal band. In addition, their sound features interplay between dual vocalists and guitarists.
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3The group changed lineup several times over their 15 year history. By their last two albums, the only two remaining original members were vocalist Matt Davies-Kreye and guitarist Kris Coombs-Roberts. The group split up after Kris left to pursue other projects and Matt retired from the limelight. In 2019, they reunited as a touring band exclusively.
4
5Not to be confused with the storyline following ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman''.
6
7!!Discography:
8
9Albums:
10* ''Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation'' (2003)
11* ''Hours'' (2005)
12* ''Tales Don't Tell Themselves'' (2007)
13* ''Memory and Humanity'' (2008)
14* ''Welcome Home Armageddon'' (2011)
15* ''Conduit'' (2013)
16* ''Chapter and Verse'' (2015)
17
18[=EPs=]:
19* ''Between Order and Model'' (2002)
20* ''Four Ways to Scream Your Name'' (2003)
21* ''The Young and Defenceless'' (2010)
22* ''See You All in Hell'' (2011)
23
24!!Band Members:
25* Matthew Davies-Kreye - lead vocals
26* Kris Coombs-Roberts - guitar, backing vocals
27* Gavin Burrough - guitar, backing vocals
28* Pat Lundy - drums
29* Richard Boucher - bass
30
31!!This band provides examples of the following tropes:
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33* AffectionateNickname: During his time in the band, original screamer Matthew Evans was known as "Mevs", which helped differentiate him from their singer, Matthew Davies.
34* AudienceParticipationSong: When performing "Streetcar", the band ask someone from the crowd to play a ringtone on their phone, or sing it, before launching into the song. This mimics the way it happens on the studio recording.
35** "Juno"/"Juneau" is also one - the band have been known to stop playing whilst the crowd sings "And I'm nothing more than a line in your book". Amazingly, they were doing this as early as late 2002 when ''Between Order and Model'' was their only release (early video footage on Youtube proves this). Audience members will sometimes scream along to the verse screaming as well.
36** The band wrote "History" specifically to be one of these songs.
37* BreakupSong: "Moments Forever Faded", "The End of Nothing", and "Juneau".
38** Every song on ''Four Ways To Scream Your Name'' details an aspect of breakup.
39* CarefulWithThatAxe
40* CoverVersion: Several (The pre-"Damage Inc." ones were all later released on ''Your History Is Mine''):
41** "The System" by Far (for a radio session and B-Side to "She Drove Me to Daytime Television". The band have also performed this live on stage with Far's vocalist Jonah Matranga);
42** "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by Music/{{U2}}, "The Boys Are Back in Town" by Music/ThinLizzy and "Babylon's Burning" by The Ruts (B-Sides of "Monsters");
43** "Pirate Song" by Gameface (B-Side of "History");
44** "Damage Inc." by Music/{{Metallica}} (''Remastered: Metallica's Master Of Puppets Revisited'');
45** "Will To Die" by Strife (''See You All In Hell'');
46** "Green To Me" by Hum (''Songs of Farewell and Departure: A Tribute to Hum'');
47** "Rookie" by Boysetsfire (Split with Boysetsfire, who covered "10.45 Amsterdam Conversations" in return.)
48** "Energy Dome" by Snapcase and "Bullet in the Head" by Music/RageAgainstTheMachine (Exclusively on the Japanese version of ''Conduit')
49* DrivenToSuicide: The boy in the video for "Roses for the Dead". It's not explicitly shown, but as the video progresses, you can see a distraught mother clearing the boy's things away and reminiscing about him. And at the very end, the boy is shown at the edge of a tall building.
50* DwindlingParty: The group's lineup frequently changed, with Kris and Matt being the only members who were there from the start until the end. The group's split ultimately came because Kris wanted to leave to pursue other projects, and they did not feel there was much point in continuing as a group with no original members, especially as Matt had lost interest in the music industry.
51* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Matthew Evans does the screaming on ''Between Order and Model'' and his voice is much screechier than Ryan Richards. This can be easily heard by comparing the EP version of "Red Is The New Black" to the ''Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation'' album version, which features Richards.
52** Pre-FFAF band January Thirst recorded their only song, "Continuing Decay of Human Nature" and released it on the UKHC compilation in 2001. Whilst it is effectively FFAF's Between Order And Model lineup with Michael Davies on vocals instead of Matt (no relation), it sounds far more like death metal and is an indication Matt changed the band's sound for the better.
53* {{Emo}}: They've been lumped in with the scene, although they're more Melodic Hardcore with HeavyMetal influences.
54* EpicRocking: The six-and-a-half minute "Novella".
55** Also the three part song "All Hands on Deck" which features "Raise the Sail", "Open Water" and "Out of Reach". The first two are subtitled Part 1 and Part 2, and segue into each other. Although they didn't title "Out Of Reach" as part of the trilogy, it reuses themes from "Open Water" and obviously was meant to be. The trilogy lasts 10:47 in total and is the most ambitious thing FFAF ever did.
56* GreatestHitsAlbum: ''Your History Is Mine'', which also had four new songs.
57** And a whole disc of B Sides, many of which had only appeared on 7" vinyl before, thus preventing the need to [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes keep circulating the vinyl recordings]].
58* ImportantHaircut: Around the time the band had released ''History'', Matt had shaved his then iconic emo fringe off, opting for a buzzcut, around the same period the band's output strayed away from the emo/post hardcore sound and moved to more melodic rock such as the ''Tales Don't Tell Themselves'' album.
59* LighterAndSofter: ''Hours'' and ''Tales Don't Tell Themselves'' were more melodic and less aggressive than their debut. However, the band followed these with ''Memory and Humanity'', which included some heavier songs, and then ''Welcome Home Armageddon'' and ''Conduit'' where they went even further in that direction than they had on all of their previous albums.
60** The band's acoustic song "Grand Central Station" (later renamed "This Letter") was the very first of these. It was written and recorded after ''Between Order and Model'', never released at the time because the band thought it was too at odds with their sound. They did write an acoustic song called "Your Revolution Is A Joke" which was included on ''Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation''. They rerecorded "This Letter" again twice in the ''Hours'' sessions, once as a heavier electric version and once as an acoustic version. Neither was used for the album, but the band had it in mind when they wrote the similar song "History". The acoustic version of "This Letter" ended up on the B-Side of the 7" of Streetcar (and later the ''Your History Is Mine'' compilation) and the electric version appeared on the third disc of the ''Your History Is Mine'' compilation (though it had also appeared on a promo acetate before this.). The original 2002 version eventually appeared as a bonus track on the reissue of ''Between Order and Model'' in November 2013.
61* LoudnessWar: They are repeat offenders. Memory and Humanity, in particular, has noticeable distortion and clipping.
62** ''Between Order and Model'' is a notable exception due to being released on an indie label.
63** It has to be said that the band's rich wall of sound means they actually use the loudness war to their advantage on ''Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation'' in particular.
64** ''Chapter and Verse'' is by far the worst affected of all their albums - for some reason they went for a really harsh sound. It's surprising, as Conduit wasn't that bad in comparison.
65* LyricalDissonance: The first half of the song "Welcome Home Armageddon" is probably the most upbeat-sounding song about the apocalypse this side of Music/{{REM}} The second part is [[SubduedSection much more somber]].
66** Some of their songs have really catchy melodies, but the lyrics are so deep in metaphor that they can be difficult to understand. Averted with ''Tales Don't Tell Themselves'' where most of the lyrics involve something happening at sea.
67* NewSoundAlbum: In 2007, they released ''Tales Don't Tell Themselves'', a mellower AlternativeRock ConceptAlbum about a lost fisherman. [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks It was not well received by the fanbase]].
68** In 2013 they released ''Conduit'', which was done in a darker, heavier style than their previous albums, with Matt using a more shouted style as well, due to the departure of Ryan Richards. All the songs on the album are heavy, and hardcore punk influenced, although several have melodic choruses. The album was also much shorter than their previous ones, with all songs apart from two being under three minutes. The parent tour generally focused on their heavier songs from previous works as well.
69* NonAppearingTitle: On ''Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation'', the only songs that actually feature the song titles in the lyrics are "Moments Forever Faded" and "Your Revolution Is a Joke". On later albums the titles are more often used but there are still many examples of this trope.
70* PerishingAltRockVoice: "Your Revolution Is a Joke", "Drive", "Sonny", "This Letter" and the end of "Kiss and Make Up (All Bets Are Off)".
71** In recent years, Matt has stopped doing this, mainly due to a consciously harder sound.
72* PuttingTheBandBackTogether: The group has reformed with several older members, to play a handful of comeback gigs in aid of a friend's hospital bills. They have made it clear that this isn't a full reunion as they feel the group had nothing more to achieve.
73* RearrangeTheSong: "Juno", from their first EP, was re-recorded as "Juneau" on their debut album. The second version removes most of the screaming and adds more singing and vocal harmonies. When playing the song live, the band reinstates the screaming.
74** "This Letter" was first recorded as an acoustic song "Grand Central Station", just after ''Between Order and Model was made''. In the ''Hours'' sessions, it was re-arranged into a heavy arrangement, then the original acoustic arrangement was re-recorded with some modifications for its release on the "Streetcar" single. For years, this acoustic version was the only one available to the public, but the heavy version has appeared on the digital only third disc of ''Your History Is Mine'' (it also appeared on a promo acetate CD, years before). The band noted that whilst they liked the song, they didn't think either arrangement quite worked well enough for it to be an album track.
75** The band rearranged "Summer's Dead and Buried" as "Waking Up in My Own Paralysis" (shortened to "Waking Up" by the label). "Waking Up..." has different lyrics, removes the 'kill you' chorus and adds a melodic 'in my hands' one. However, the song still retains the 'dead and buried' section towards the end.
76** The band have done acoustic versions of at least 16 songs across various sessions and releases. When the song requires screaming, it is usually sung instead. Of particular note is "The Art of American Football (Tiscali Acoustic Session)", which was rearranged so differently as an acoustic that it could almost be a different song. This version can most easily be found on the second disc of ''Your History Is Mine''.
77* RunningJoke: Matt can't ride a bicycle.
78* RereleaseTheSong: The ''Casually Dressed & Deep In Conversation'' recordings of "She Drove Me to Daytime Television" and "Escape Artists Never Die" are identical to the previously released ones on ''Four Ways to Scream Your Name'', save for remastering to bring them in line with the rest of the album. The Japanese version also includes the two remaining tracks, "This Year's Most Open Heartbreak" and "Kiss and Make Up (All Bets Are Off)" as bonus tracks, remastered in the same way.
79** Patterned after this, the band reused "Damned If You Do, Dead If You Don't" and "Sixteen" from the ''The Young and Defenceless'' on ''Welcome Home Armageddon''.
80* RevolvingDoorBand: The group had a few lineups prior to establishing their 'classic' one from their second EP ''Four Ways to Scream Your Name'' (in 2003) to their fourth album ''Memory and Humanity'' (in 2008) after which the lineup changing with every release thereafter. A fair amount of fans feel the group lost their way after Darran Smith left and even more so after Ryan Richards did so.
81* SopranoAndGravel: Matt the singer and Ryan the screamer. Matt shout-sings the vocals on occasion.
82** On ''Between Order and Model'', it was Matt the singer and Matthew Evans the screamer (who had a much harsher style than Ryan). The song "Red Is the New Black" is a good point for comparison.
83** Since ''Conduit'', Matt tends to shout sing more often, due to the departure of Ryan. Whilst playing live on the ''Conduit tour'', if a song requires a singer and screamer at the same time (e.g. Juno), Kris will do the screaming.
84** In the period after Matthew Evans left until about somewhere during the ''Hours'' album cycle Matt screamed on some of the band's output such as "You Want Romance?", "10 Scene Points To The Winner" and various songs live and a few demos on Hours such as "Roses For The Dead" and "The End of Nothing".
85* StockPhrase: Expect Matt to say 'heart' and/or 'bleeding' at least once in every song, especially on ''Hours''.
86* SurprisinglyGentleSong: "Your Revolution Is a Joke", "Building", "Sonny", "History", "This Letter", and, to an extent, "Owls (Are Watching)".
87* {{Tearjerker}} - The video for Roses for the Dead.
88* TitledAfterTheSong: The band is named for a song by Planes Mistaken for Stars, not the Music/EltonJohn song, as some believe.
89* TitleDrop: "Sixteen" drops the title of the EP it was on, ''The Young and Defenseless'', in the chorus (minus the "the" part).
90** "Roses for the Dead" contains the line "Wasting the hours now", which gave the name to the album ''Hours''.
91** ''Welcome Home Armageddon'' is a double one - in addition to being the title track for an album, a line in the song gave the name to the EP ''See You All in Hell''.
92* TheBandMinusTheFace: Ryan Richards was the screamer in the band, and second most recognisable member after Matthew Davies-Kreye. Ryan's absence is particularly notable on ''Conduit'' because the parts he would scream are instead shouted by Matt.

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