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With the release next week of Funeral For Friend's fifth studio album, Welcome Home Armageddon, we take a look at the critical reception the record has been getting.

Funeral For A Friend

(9/10)
"Welcome Home Armageddon is an extremely satisfying album, for fans old and new. Ferocious and beautiful - Funeral For A Friend sound more like themselves than they have done in years."

(4.5/5)
"If there are favourites to pick, Old Hymns, Broken Foundation and Owls (Are Watching) are early frontrunners - but overall Welcome Home Armageddon is a beautifully structured joy to listen to and a reminder of everything Funeral For A Friend do so well.

"This album is not a return to 'old Funeral for a Friend'. Yes, it has the aggression of some of their earlier material, but this aggression is backed by some huge melodies, intricate instrumentals and great vocals. This is not a band looking back. This is a band looking and moving forward. This is a band in the best form of its existence who have written their best album thus far."

(3/5)
"Armageddon is a sop to the disaffected fans of FFAF's pomp, and in seeking to recapture their ardour it tries too hard to pander to their needs. And from the few tracks that evidence what could have been, that's a shame."

"It'd be easy to say 'here is Casually Dressed Part 2' but that would be horrifically short sighted. Welcome Home Armageddon places Funeral for a Friend's back catalogue in the Large Hadron Collider and atomizes it, leaving its imprint writ large in their legacy for all to see.

"Welcome Home Armageddon is the sound of Funeral For A Friend re-exploring the raucous spirit of their earliest work, but investing it with the melodic lessons that they've learnt in the intervening period. Their riffs are as furious and intricate as they have ever been and their choruses as catchy. Whether the end result fits into the landscape of metal music as it lies today is debatable, but it should leave the vast majority of Funeral For A Friend's fans very happy indeed."

(8/10)
"...although there are heavy elements on this, the Welsh favourites' fifth album, the real theme running throughout the record is that of a pop-punk masterpiece."

(5/5)
"After deserting their roots with 2007's Tales Don't Tell Themselves and then offering glimpses of excellence with its follow-up, Memory and Humanity, Funeral For A Friend have completely revitalised their sound with this phenomenal record."

(4.5/5)
"Welcome Home Armageddon' has more than enough balls and bravado to satisfy old and new fans alike. And for those of you sitting on the fence, prepare to be knocked off it. For a band that could quite easily have called it a day, this is an album seeped in euphoria, passion and optimism. It embodies the spirit of a band who are truly back at the top of their game. Welcome back, indeed."

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