Dark lyrics and looming chords have earned AFI a spot in the musical genre known as Goth Punk. Despite earnest efforts to break away from this, their new album, Burials, follows the same formula as all the others.
There have been variations along the way, but whether it’s stripped down and raw or built up and dramatic, AFI – which stands for A Fire Inside – are still among the heavies in angst-ridden music. Is the tag for their type of music fair? Guitarist Jade Puget told the Phoenix New Times blog, “The really unfortunate term we were saddled with was Goth Punk, which isn’t even a real genre of music.”
Whether the band likes it or not they’re stuck with it. But with plenty of sold out shows and a highly anticipated world tour, they really shouldn’t have too much to complain about. Still, lead singer Davey Havok is whining about their failure to record a happier album.
“It is certainly – embarrassingly so – a very dark album, especially in its candidness, which is something, to be honest, that’s disappointing to me,” he told Rolling Stone. “It’s something I just keep coming back to – I can’t escape it.”
The title Burials pretty much gives away how that turned out.
Disappointing to Havok or not, the album earned four stars in an Alternative Press review, though they too agreed that just like the rest of AFI’s discography, it’s dark stuff.
“Burials peaks with “The Face Beneath The Waves,” the most romantically menacing thing AFI have created,” wrote reviewer Jason Pettigrew. “The song is powered with an emotional context that’s more Emily Brontë than Stephenie Meyer – the kind of thing playing when lovers are ripped out of each other’s arms during the apocalypse.”
This is the their first release in four years, following 2009’s Crash Love, which means it’s the first time in three years the band has hit the stage as AFI – Puget and Havok’s side project Black Audio released Bright Black Heaven as a side back in 2011 and played a few gigs in support of it – and fans who own more than their 2006 major commercial success, Decemberunderground, couldn’t be more excited.
Burials comes out today, Oct. 22. The band will host a Reddit AMA session before taking the stage at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, CA.
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