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LP REVIEW
FONY
1.
A SATIRE FOR THE WORLD
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Fony are back with
the follow-up to last years "Routine Irregular", showcasing eleven
new songs on their second album which is entitled "Circles". The
Surrey band team up this time with Pete Brown - not particularly
known for his metal band output - to create over fifty minutes of fresh and
invigorating music that shows they are capable of moving forward. This album definitely shows a measure of progression, the songs have matured and the writing diversified significantly in places, but without losing sight of the overall direction they wish to go. The songs do seem generally to be more expressive; with greater attention to melodic detail, more depth and layers that in turn create more interest. Highlights on the album are “A Satire For The World” which starts off where the last album finished and is followed with “Strobe”, a good aggressive metal song featuring a big emphasis on guttural vocals in an inevitable modern metal style. “Helium” is a tasteful acoustic song that builds nicely into an emotionally expressive explosion and is a fine piece of melodic rock. “Fucking The Sentiment” fires off with a awesome chugging riff and “Circles” brings it back down to earth with a laid back instrumental that’s a cool exploration into a gentle calmness. To be honest, this track wouldn’t sound out of place as a backing music to a holiday programme TV report or something! “January Zen” is easily the most instant song on the album (and personal favourite) with a hugely catchy riff, great hook and nice chorus, showing an impressive command of powerful melodies. “I Mar The Chance” is a typical Fony, muscley metal song and finally “Wishlist End” is a tense ballad that closes the album. Again this is an album that doesn’t click straight away, it takes a little more work and a few listens to begin to appreciate the songs - just like their debut. After several listens there are still songs that remain anonymous and sometimes you feel that the vocalist just pushes his voice a little too far, finding his limits and dropping the occasional flat notes. There’s a lack of identity, of real defining character in their songs and they do sometimes sound a little generic - there’s the need for that special something to make them stand out. Those gips aside, there is without doubt more diversity and variety to be found this time around and you do get the feeling that they have tried hard to do more than just reproduce the first album. It is a fine successor to "Routine Irregular", showing progression and maturity and leaves things wide open for a promising future…
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- Rigsby (17th
October, 2003) |