With Funeral for a Friend’s “Memory and Humanity” dropping on October 14th, I’ve noticed a lot of the early reviews are knocking the band’s previous release “Tales Don’t Tell Themselves” as a universal disappointment. The reviews even go as far as to knock anyone who enjoyed “Tales.”

So I guess I should be ashamed of myself for enjoying an album by a well-respected band that tried something different, right? Wrong, Mr. Condescending Critic.

However, a quick search for the album reviews on Wikipedia’s links show that nearly all of the reviews for “Tales” were at least favorable. The attitude reminds me of how everyone suddenly hated Nine Inch Nails’ “With Teeth” after “Year Zero” came out; “With Teeth” received very positive reviews.

Music appreciation training teaches that a listener shouldn’t immediately peg music as “good” or “bad,” but rather determine if they understand what the composer was getting at or not.

In the case of “Tales,” I’m lead to believe that a lot of people didn’t “understand” the album.

Don’t get me wrong, I love “Seven Ways,” “Casually Dressed” and “Hours.” However, I’ve loved every album this band has put out and I regard “Tales” as the band’s best work.

Before you go and condemn me for loving an album that has become popular to hate, hear me out. “Tales” doesn’t fit in to the hardcore or post-hardcore genres; it is a work of pop-rock. Many critics seem to condemn “Tales” simply because it is different. However, hindsight often proves that an artist’s most abstract work can be their best—see Face to Face’s “Ignorance is Bliss.”

“Tales” is a concept album about a man who leaves his family and goes out to see. The man gets shipwrecked, miraculously survives and eventually returns home only to find his family has moved on. The story is a fantastic inspirational motif for anyone who has ever felt truly lost in their life. The band runs with the theme throughout the album to make a beautiful statement about continuing on with life after feeling like you’ve lost it all.

Though the first half of the album features the catchy tunes “Into Oblivion,” “The Great Wide Open” and “The Diary,” the album nails its message in the second half.

The song “All Hands on Deck Part 2: Open Water” examines what is going through the man’s head as he somehow managed to survive the shipwreck against all odds.

“Awake, I am awake, and I’m still alive out here,” Matt Davies sings.

Music can mean a lot to people, especially songs they can relate to that helped them get through the darkest moments of their life. I would recommend the second half of “Tales” to any of my friends going through a rough spot in their life.

“Out of Reach,” the heaviest track on “Tales,” continues the theme and explores the hopelessness a person feels when they no longer believe they can be saved.

The fantastic song, “One for the Road” is about losing yourself to an escapist habit. In this case, it’s drinking.

However, unlike many “depressing” albums, “Tales” doesn’t leave you down at the end. Instead it picks you up and says “move on.”

The song “Walk Away” is about cutting your loses and moving on with your life in hopes of being happy once again and “The Sweetest Wave” is about survivor’s guilt and moving on with life.

“Tales” is Funeral for a Friend’s strongest album to date—we’ll have to see if “Memory and Humanity” can top it. Unfortunately, “Tales” was a bit to ambitious for a lot people to completely understand. That’s a shame, because they’re missing out on a wonderful concept album with an uplifting message.