Funeral Diner "The Underdark" CD
[Alone]
Not bad. This is a definite improvement over "The Wicked" EP, opening up with the slow building instrumental, "Decline", that grows from borderline silent clean tones to much louder and more powerful layers of distorted rhythms and chorused guitar lines that set the tone for this somber and atmospheric full-length. Overall their style is still a screamo sort of approach, with harsh screaming vocals and riffing styles that blend the lush and laidback with the frantic and aggressive - though rarely abandoning melodic undercurrents. But the performances are tighter than many such acts, with a darker and more dynamic compositional style that carries itself nicely on this release thanks to the vastly improved recording quality. The percussion sounds super crisp and natural, highlighting a number of forceful and creative drum fills, the basslines are well defined and prominent in carrying the structures along, and the vocals are somewhat distant so as not to overpower the music. Lots of effects are used on the guitars, so rather than being centralized around dry clean tones or aptly rugged distortion, there are a lot of droning reverberated textures happening, and it all sounds pretty nice - clear and efficient without being pristine (as that just wouldn't fit the true nature of this music). The songs are a little longer this time out, averaging a little over five minutes each with a good amount of tactful repetition and back and forth shifts between discordantly melodic chord progressions. Most of the tempos are pretty moderate, with some faster picking patterns at times, but little that really changes up the pacing to where it feels "fast" per se, which I think helps with the consistent flow of the record. Another strength is that the riffs are very interactive. There's a ton of layering between the guitars and bass where each instrument is doing something completely different while piecing together as a group, and the vibrant nature of the drummer's performance highlights that. This is one of those rare cases where I get the impression that the drummer plays solely based on feel, as everything fits perfectly but feels very impulsive and improvisational, so I bet he never plays any of the songs the same way twice, and I fucking love that. Among the more memorable tracks are "We Become Buried" and "Regardless We Fall", both of which harness the most emotion - the latter bringing some of the most obviously frantic indie riffing and stark contrasts in playing styles, while the former flows a bit more consistently and lets subtle melody do the driving. "It is Good That We Never Met" even hits right at nine minutes, with a few more intense rhythms that have a heavier sort of thunder happening. It does bring in the keyboards that I've never cared for in the band's work, which offer an unusual horror movie sort of feel, and I'm still not a supporter of that element of this music as it's distracting and unnecessary, but it fits better on this outing than before, so I can let it slide. "What Was Said" is another instrumental, this time acting as a bit of an interlude with lots of abstract guitar textures and sparse percussion. I believe there are some very distant singing vocals in the distance, but they're so far back that you can't make out whether or not there are any actual words. "We All Have Blood on Our Hands" is another killer tune, letting more dissonance into the chord progressions with a heavier bite to some of the picking patterns that really hits hard and closes the disc on an exceptional note. The layout looks damn nice, packaging the disc in a black digipack with metallic silver printing depicting sinister artwork that carries a brooding aesthetic across the board. The lyrics follow suit and are actually quite fucking impressive - easily 10 times better than most of the material I hear from this genre: "Taken away and destroyed before our eyes. No voices were heard and none were memorable. We were left to our own destiny, failed at that and sought solace in the coldest arms imaginable. We are the makers of our own fate and we failed. We all have blood on our hands." Not bad at all. This band seems to have a pretty devoted following, and now I'm starting to understand why, because they've certainly got their own personality and offer a lot of qualities that their contemporaries lack. And with this record, they're really starting to prove themselves, so... be on the lookout. (7/10)
Running time - 44:05, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: We Become Buried, Regardless We Fall, We All Have Blood on Our Hands]
Alone Records - http://www.alonerecords.com

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