Funeral For A Friend - 'Casually Dressed And Deep In Conversation' (Warner Music) 13/10/03

As the leaders of the new 'extremo' pack, tattooed Welshmen Funeral For A Friend are fast becoming the skate kids' major label band of choice. Gone are the days when three chords and jokes about farting would have sated them; the post-hardcore generation is screaming its way through punk rock via the side roads of emo and metal (both old and, ahem, 'nu'). FFAF may be named after an Elton John song, but that's where the similarities between them end.

Searing riffs and atom-powered drums fight for space with Matt Davies' impassioned vocal, demonstrating that the comparisons to Nirvana are perhaps not as wide of the mark as one might think. On one hand, this is emo-rock-by-numbers. There's little to set them apart from Finch, Hell Is For Heroes or Lostprophets, and even if 'Bend Your Arms To Look Like Wings' and last single 'She Drove Me To Daytime Television' do have great titles, they're still within the template of oblique-sounding songs that the genre seems to have borrowed from lo-fi indie punkas.

The songs all sound the same as well, which is unsurprising but perhaps the main obstacle in their way. It's still worth remembering, though, that the Ramones showed it's possible to rewrite the same song for the rest of your career, as long as it's played well, and pretty much every track here (especially 'Rookie Of The Year' and 'Juneau') holds up to that standard. As debut albums go, then, it's exactly what you'd want. It serves perfectly well as an introduction, doesn't let itself down and shows plenty of promise for what's to come. Whether they can live up to the promise remains to be seen. After all, it's their funeral. 3.5/5