Originally hailing from Valdosta, Georgia and Tampa, Florida (they’re now based in Los Angeles) FFTL was originally formed under the monicker First Too Last in November 1999. After some line-up shifts and a bandname change, the membership stabilized around lead singer Philip Reardon, guitarist/ singer Matt Good (only original member), guitarist/ singer Travis Richter, bassist Joey Antillion (replaced by Jon Weisberg in 2003, whom was followed up by Alicia Simmons-Way during for 2005 live shows, then by Wes Borland from late 2005 to late 2006, before Matt Manning stepped in as steady 4-string plucker), and drummer Greg Taylor (swiftly replaced by Derek Bloom).

Reardon left just before the band was to record Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has A Body Count (for Epitaph, to whom they’d signed late 2003), the follow-up full-length to their 2003 debut EP Aesthetics (issued through Four Leaf Recordings). The band at that time wanted Good to do the lead vocals as well as playing guitar, but he felt the band needed a frontman to connect with the audience. Therefore he called guitarist/ backing singer Sonny Moore (found through MySpace) to become the second guitarist in the band…but when the guys heard him sing, they gave Moore the lead vocal position in stead. Dear Diary was released in late June 2004, and has since been followed up by 2006’s Heroine (produced by Ross Robinson) and 2008’s self-titled album. But before that, the band almost split following Moore’s departure in early 2007 (left to pursue a solo career, and take it easier on his vocal chords – he’d undergone surgery twice in the 2 years prior due to the strain put on ‘em through singing with FFTL). This coincide most unhappily with the band beinng dropped by their then label Capitol Records because of financial problems. Good at that time was reluctant to stop the band, and therefore decided to be the lead singer while still playing the rhythm guitar. With the money they had left, the band went into a small studio to record their already written self-titled album. Midway the mixing stages of the album, the band was picked up by the Suretone label. With new financial backing, they went into the studio again to re-record the material with professional help. The album was released in early May 2008.

Over the years, the band has seen its profile rise with each album, thanks also to great touring opportunities. Following the release of From First To Last, they got onto the Vans Warped Tour, and a week later they announced keyboardist/ programmer Chris Lent as a new member of the line-up. From late September to mid-October, FFTL supported (alongside We Are The Ocean and he Medic Droid) The Blackout on UK dates. After that the band took a break from touring. Richter and Bloom focussed  work on side-project The Color Of Violence, releasing the Youthanize album in April 2009. FFTL member Chris Lent not only toured with them as one of their 2 drummers (alongside Daughters’ Jon Silverton) but also as the drummer of I Set My Friends On Fire, and then confirmed he was no longer with FFTL but writing/ recording with ISMFOF in stead. Songs for a new album were demoed in March 2009, and the band put one of those songs on their MySpace. After a new recording session, they added another rough mix demo track in July, at which time they also announced the band would start proper recordings starting August. On Oct. first, they announced their upcoming tour (Oct. – Nov.) with Greeley Estates and Therefore I Am, and also that they had signed to Rise for the release of their latest outing…which brings me full-circle in the band’s history and forces me to finally start talking music!

You see, the band is generally categorized as “Post-Hardcore”…a description which can take into you several direction! Essentially, the band takes elements from EmoCore (mixture of high-pitch clean vocals with shouts and occasional screams – with an emphasis on Good’s high pitch) and highly technical Melodic Metal played at rather a high pace with a shit-load of note-play…by both guitarists! In other words, there’s an underlaying complexity in the music, but thanks to their compositorial capacities the band understood they had to bring in short repetitive bits in order to keep the melodic factor of the music high enough. Thumbs up for the drummer, whom does a ter-ri-fic job! Weirdo in the track-list is “A Soft War” with its vocoder effects and synth sounds. Albeit Ambient, it has a wacky spacey feeling…and seemlessly grows into album closer “Now That You’re Gone” (during parts of which the voice vocoder is again used). When I last checked a couple of days ago, the complete album was available for listening at myspace.com/fftl. Check it out, now! Don’t wait, just dó it!

98/100

Tony.