To tell you the truth, with a name like Funeral Diner, I was completely expecting something metalcore. Instead, I got something ambient-esque in the style of Desert City Soundtrack, Murder By Death, or a really lame version of Godspeed! You Black Emperor that breaks into screaming. The thing is, if you're going to have a band like this, they better be damn interesting. No one wants boring instrumentals, and no one wants bands trying to be hardcore when they just really aren't. Especially ones with cheesy synth lines that sounds like bells.

What probably sets this band apart is that they try to get hardcore at times. And it sounds trite and forced. It's hard to play with passion and screaming when so many other bands have that style as well. Two years ago I would have thought this band to be excellent, but now they are just blah. We've heard the whole screaming with melodic guitar lines before. In fact, these days, anything with screaming is starting to bore me. It doesn't matter what genre it gets separated down into, it's all just blurring together.

I mean, it's not terrible. On this four song EP, the band is trying to be inventive, but it just ends up sounding like a rip-off of Murder By Death, or even on "It Burns," the guitar riff sounds sort of like the one in Metallica's "Unforgiven." And I fucking hate Metallica. This band just doesn't do it for me. It might do it for you, and if it does, then great. Go buy it. But for me, this gets a big thumbs down.