Album Reviews

AFI has never been afraid to try new things. While “Sing The Sorrow” saw them take their gothpunk to its limits, “Decemberunderground” was a mix of hair metal and their dark punk sound. On their latest effort, AFI show that they’ve once again evolved. A song like “End Transmission” may be far removed from their hardcore punk days but it’s still a very, very solid song with its übercatchy chorus. ”Veronica Sawyer Smokes” sounds a bit like The Cure and “Too Shy To Scream” has a lot of glam influences.

This time around AFI have come up with an album that’s full of variation in terms of rhythms and guitar sounds. They’ve also aimed for more of a straightforward rock sound that works well for them. But no worries, Davey Havok’s trademark ‘oh’ is still present in pretty much every single song, there are plenty of singalong parts and cuts like single “Medicate” and “Sacrilege” will satisfy every AFI fan out there.

I doubt they’ll ever write an album as good as “Sing The Sorrow” again but maybe “Crash Love” will be the album that finally gets them the mainstream success that they’ve been flirting with ever since the release of “Sing The Sorrow”.