Funeral Oration

Survival (Hopeless)
by Scott Hefflon

Hopeless doesn’t bother to send bios anymore, so the only thing I remember about Funeral Oration is that they’re from Amsterdam, their singer has a kinda lilting, heavily-vibratoed voice kinda like Morrissey-meets-Jello, and I never really cared much for ’em. But Survival is a really nice album. Unlike one-gimmick-wonders or bands that just keep pumping out albums despite the fact that no one likes ’em anymore, Funeral Oration have finally won me over. Thirty minute CDs of fast and tuneful punkpop are a dime a dozen (that’s how much you’ll get for ’em at the used CD stores), but Survival is worth throwing on again and again. If for no other reason than to hear the warm warble of the singer’s voice, these 15 songs are worth having. Well, a couple of the mid-tempo ones I could do without, but that’s just me. Similar to early ’90s punkpop, where everything sounded the fuckin’ same and it was all equally OK, Funeral Oration are worthy simply because they have an interesting twist here, an overall user-friendly feel, and a different vocal style to add to the otherwise interchangeable punk songs.
(PO Box 7495 Van Nuys, CA 91409)