06-11-2013, 12:39
allmusic - 2.4 of 3.0
had not heard this band
SteveO peaked my interest
a Muse, QOSA, 30 Seconds To Mars feel for me
more depth than I was expecting
good album
Bio - from allmusic
![[Image: MI0001461395.jpg?partner=allrovi.com]](http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0001/461/MI0001461395.jpg?partner=allrovi.com)
Although they didn't reach platinum status until 2003, hardcore punk revivalists AFI originally formed in 1991, when the band's four founding
members -- vocalist Davey Havok, guitarist Markus Stopholese, bassist Vic Chalker, and drummer Adam Carson -- were attending high school in
Ukiah, California. Chalker was replaced by Geoff Kresge after eight months, and the band played several local gigs and released a split 7",
Dork, with fellow Ukiah natives Loose Change (a band that incidentally included future AFI member Jade Puget). An EP titled Behind the Times was
released as well. The bandmembers then split up to attend different colleges, with Kresge temporarily moving to New Jersey to join Blanks 77.
However, AFI reconvened during a holiday break to play a one-off reunion show, and audience response was so positive that the bandmembers
decided to quit school and concentrate on music full-time.
AFI (whose abbreviation stands for "A Fire Inside") issued several singles before securing a record deal with the Nitro label, which issued the
band's second album, Very Proud of Ya, in 1996. Two LPs followed in 1997 -- a re-release of their 1995 debut, Answer That & Stay Fashionable,
and Shut Your Mouth & Open Your Eyes -- and personnel shifts ensued. Kresge was the first to leave, being replaced by bassist Hunter Burgan, and
Stopholese departed in favor of ex-Redemption 87 guitarist Jade Puget, who then shared songwriting duties with Havok. The new lineup recorded an
EP titled A Fire Inside in 1998, and issued a noticeably more mature full-length in 1999, Black Sails in the Sunset; 1999 also saw the release
of the All Hallow's EP before The Art of Drowning followed a year later. Though already owning a fiercely loyal core base of fans, the latter
album saw the band's music attracting an even larger audience, due in part to the moderate success of the single "Days of the Phoenix."
Accordingly, it was the first album to chart in the Billboard 200.
At the onset of the new millennium, AFI hooked up with producers Jerry Finn and Garbage's Butch Vig for a new set of recording sessions. The end
result was the ambitious Sing the Sorrow, AFI's major-label debut for DreamWorks, which showcased the band's significant growth since its early
hardcore days. Released in 2003, the record also marked AFI's crossover into the mainstream, and Sing the Sorrow eventually went platinum as
several singles found airplay on MTV. Working again with Jerry Finn (who had also produced records for blink-182 and Green Day), the band's
follow-up release was its most labor-intensive to date, resulting from two years of detailed songwriting. Decemberunderground, AFI's seventh
album, surfaced in 2006 on the Interscope label. The album was an instant success, debuting at number one on the Billboard charts and launching
a summer-long tour, followed by a string of overseas performances in October.
While on tour, Havok and Puget dedicated their spare time to a side project that would eventually become Blaqk Audio, which they debuted in
early 2007. AFI released the concert album I Heard a Voice: Live from Long Beach Arena later that same year, but the bandmates continued
pursuing their own projects, with Hunter Burgan playing bass for several other bands while Jade Puget did remix work for the likes of the Cure.
AFI properly reconvened in 2008 to begin writing new material; by November, they had announced their intention to begin recording with producer
David Bottrill. Two months later, they traded Bottrill for a pair of new producers -- Joe McGrath and Jacknife Lee -- and continued working on
the album, focusing on songs that were harder than those found on Decemberunderground. The result, Crash Love, their most straight-ahead rock
record to date, was released in September 2009 and was another success, though it did not chart as highly or sell as well as the previous two
albums. AFI toured extensively throughout 2010 to promote the release before going quiet for a couple of years. In 2013 they announced they
would be returning with a new album, Burials, in October of that year. Produced by Gil Norton, the album was preceded by a number of singles
including the thrilling, melodic pop-punk anthem "17 Crimes."
Album Review - from allmusic
![[Image: MI0003665633.jpg?partner=allrovi.com]](http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0003/665/MI0003665633.jpg?partner=allrovi.com)
AFI have definitely matured over the years. Their first jump was from a snotty, upstart California hardcore band with a heavy Misfits obsession
to emo-goth superstars with their breakthrough 2003 epic Sing the Sorrow. That album and its 2006 follow-up, Decemberunderground, found lead
singer Davey Havok and the rest of AFI fully embracing their dark, if still glitter-laden take on grandly produced and anthemic rock that
somehow bridged the wide gap between the panicked, emo-soul of Fall Out Boy and the macabre, electronic-tinged sound of Marilyn Manson. 2009âs
Crash Love, with its neon-colored nods to â80s Burundi beat pop and post-Smiths Morrissey, brought their sound full-circle, with songs that were
the some of the most pop-oriented of the bandâs career. 2013âs Burials finds AFI returning to a darker sound both lyrically and musically,
without compromising on their trademark infectious hooks. As showcased on the malevolent, cinematic opening track, "The Sinking Night," Burials
is certainly an album of epic gloom and angsty menace which often plays as if it was written as a soundtrack to a stylized thriller or a slick
anime film about lost love and tortured obsession. On "The Sinking Night," Havok croons, "The blackness drips down from both my hands/ The gold
in my palm was mistaken for sand/ Can you feel it?" We definitely can, and the rest of Burials only deepens the feeling. Of course, even though
Havok never loosens his death grip here in terms of overall intensity, there are still moments of pop euphoria. To these ends, "17 Crimes" is a
driving ode to teenage freedom, and "Greater Than 84," with its allusions to George Orwell's literary classic 1984, turns living in a dystopian
city into a metaphor for a failed relationship. With his Bowie-esque knack for theatrically morphing his visage to fit each album, Havok (a
career-long straight-edge vegan) is an often misunderstood, and underappreciated pop maverick. It's often too easy to focus on the eyeshadow or
slant of his quaff, and miss the underlying intelligence and melodramatic wit that informs much of AFI's work. Similarly, guitarist Jade Puget,
AFI's resident Mark Ronson and musical director, defies quick categorization with arrangements that draw upon the symphonic grandeur of Tony
Visconti, as much as the titanic industrial wallop of Nine Inch Nails. With Burials, Havok and AFI don't just bury the castle of wrecked
relationships, they put to rest any notions that they aren't kings of their dystopian rock kingdom.
from the album - I Hope You Suffer
[video=youtube;DSNyOYT3dJ8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSNyOYT3dJ8[/video]
Track Listing
1. The Sinking Night
2. I Hope You Suffer
3. A Deep Slow Panic
4. No Resurrection
5. 17 Crimes
6. The Conductor
7. Heart Stops
8. Rewind
9. The Embrace
10. Wild
11. Greater Than 84
12. Anxious
13. The Face Beneath the Waves
had not heard this band
SteveO peaked my interest
a Muse, QOSA, 30 Seconds To Mars feel for me
more depth than I was expecting
good album
Bio - from allmusic
Although they didn't reach platinum status until 2003, hardcore punk revivalists AFI originally formed in 1991, when the band's four founding
members -- vocalist Davey Havok, guitarist Markus Stopholese, bassist Vic Chalker, and drummer Adam Carson -- were attending high school in
Ukiah, California. Chalker was replaced by Geoff Kresge after eight months, and the band played several local gigs and released a split 7",
Dork, with fellow Ukiah natives Loose Change (a band that incidentally included future AFI member Jade Puget). An EP titled Behind the Times was
released as well. The bandmembers then split up to attend different colleges, with Kresge temporarily moving to New Jersey to join Blanks 77.
However, AFI reconvened during a holiday break to play a one-off reunion show, and audience response was so positive that the bandmembers
decided to quit school and concentrate on music full-time.
AFI (whose abbreviation stands for "A Fire Inside") issued several singles before securing a record deal with the Nitro label, which issued the
band's second album, Very Proud of Ya, in 1996. Two LPs followed in 1997 -- a re-release of their 1995 debut, Answer That & Stay Fashionable,
and Shut Your Mouth & Open Your Eyes -- and personnel shifts ensued. Kresge was the first to leave, being replaced by bassist Hunter Burgan, and
Stopholese departed in favor of ex-Redemption 87 guitarist Jade Puget, who then shared songwriting duties with Havok. The new lineup recorded an
EP titled A Fire Inside in 1998, and issued a noticeably more mature full-length in 1999, Black Sails in the Sunset; 1999 also saw the release
of the All Hallow's EP before The Art of Drowning followed a year later. Though already owning a fiercely loyal core base of fans, the latter
album saw the band's music attracting an even larger audience, due in part to the moderate success of the single "Days of the Phoenix."
Accordingly, it was the first album to chart in the Billboard 200.
At the onset of the new millennium, AFI hooked up with producers Jerry Finn and Garbage's Butch Vig for a new set of recording sessions. The end
result was the ambitious Sing the Sorrow, AFI's major-label debut for DreamWorks, which showcased the band's significant growth since its early
hardcore days. Released in 2003, the record also marked AFI's crossover into the mainstream, and Sing the Sorrow eventually went platinum as
several singles found airplay on MTV. Working again with Jerry Finn (who had also produced records for blink-182 and Green Day), the band's
follow-up release was its most labor-intensive to date, resulting from two years of detailed songwriting. Decemberunderground, AFI's seventh
album, surfaced in 2006 on the Interscope label. The album was an instant success, debuting at number one on the Billboard charts and launching
a summer-long tour, followed by a string of overseas performances in October.
While on tour, Havok and Puget dedicated their spare time to a side project that would eventually become Blaqk Audio, which they debuted in
early 2007. AFI released the concert album I Heard a Voice: Live from Long Beach Arena later that same year, but the bandmates continued
pursuing their own projects, with Hunter Burgan playing bass for several other bands while Jade Puget did remix work for the likes of the Cure.
AFI properly reconvened in 2008 to begin writing new material; by November, they had announced their intention to begin recording with producer
David Bottrill. Two months later, they traded Bottrill for a pair of new producers -- Joe McGrath and Jacknife Lee -- and continued working on
the album, focusing on songs that were harder than those found on Decemberunderground. The result, Crash Love, their most straight-ahead rock
record to date, was released in September 2009 and was another success, though it did not chart as highly or sell as well as the previous two
albums. AFI toured extensively throughout 2010 to promote the release before going quiet for a couple of years. In 2013 they announced they
would be returning with a new album, Burials, in October of that year. Produced by Gil Norton, the album was preceded by a number of singles
including the thrilling, melodic pop-punk anthem "17 Crimes."
Album Review - from allmusic
AFI have definitely matured over the years. Their first jump was from a snotty, upstart California hardcore band with a heavy Misfits obsession
to emo-goth superstars with their breakthrough 2003 epic Sing the Sorrow. That album and its 2006 follow-up, Decemberunderground, found lead
singer Davey Havok and the rest of AFI fully embracing their dark, if still glitter-laden take on grandly produced and anthemic rock that
somehow bridged the wide gap between the panicked, emo-soul of Fall Out Boy and the macabre, electronic-tinged sound of Marilyn Manson. 2009âs
Crash Love, with its neon-colored nods to â80s Burundi beat pop and post-Smiths Morrissey, brought their sound full-circle, with songs that were
the some of the most pop-oriented of the bandâs career. 2013âs Burials finds AFI returning to a darker sound both lyrically and musically,
without compromising on their trademark infectious hooks. As showcased on the malevolent, cinematic opening track, "The Sinking Night," Burials
is certainly an album of epic gloom and angsty menace which often plays as if it was written as a soundtrack to a stylized thriller or a slick
anime film about lost love and tortured obsession. On "The Sinking Night," Havok croons, "The blackness drips down from both my hands/ The gold
in my palm was mistaken for sand/ Can you feel it?" We definitely can, and the rest of Burials only deepens the feeling. Of course, even though
Havok never loosens his death grip here in terms of overall intensity, there are still moments of pop euphoria. To these ends, "17 Crimes" is a
driving ode to teenage freedom, and "Greater Than 84," with its allusions to George Orwell's literary classic 1984, turns living in a dystopian
city into a metaphor for a failed relationship. With his Bowie-esque knack for theatrically morphing his visage to fit each album, Havok (a
career-long straight-edge vegan) is an often misunderstood, and underappreciated pop maverick. It's often too easy to focus on the eyeshadow or
slant of his quaff, and miss the underlying intelligence and melodramatic wit that informs much of AFI's work. Similarly, guitarist Jade Puget,
AFI's resident Mark Ronson and musical director, defies quick categorization with arrangements that draw upon the symphonic grandeur of Tony
Visconti, as much as the titanic industrial wallop of Nine Inch Nails. With Burials, Havok and AFI don't just bury the castle of wrecked
relationships, they put to rest any notions that they aren't kings of their dystopian rock kingdom.
from the album - I Hope You Suffer
[video=youtube;DSNyOYT3dJ8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSNyOYT3dJ8[/video]
Track Listing
1. The Sinking Night
2. I Hope You Suffer
3. A Deep Slow Panic
4. No Resurrection
5. 17 Crimes
6. The Conductor
7. Heart Stops
8. Rewind
9. The Embrace
10. Wild
11. Greater Than 84
12. Anxious
13. The Face Beneath the Waves
