AFI-crash love
October 28th 2009 10:13
You can’t fault AFI always trying to grow in their writing and in their music. While some found ‘Decemberunderground’ a little disappointing, they may be impressed with ‘Crash Love’. In fact the more times I listen to this album, the more I love it. Mixing elements of the “Sing The Sorrow’ sound with their previous disc, the band have returned to big singalong chorus, catchy guitar riffs and Davey’s read-between-the-lines lyrics.
Opening track ‘Torch Song’ moves away from typical AFI album intros but segues into the catchy ‘Beautiful Thieves’ and ‘End Transmission’. What becomes evident early on is how great Hunter’s bass work and Adam’s drum work is. While Jade directs the music and has great arrangements to suit Davey’s vocals, Hunter and Adam really fill out the sound that may have been lost in the electronica of ‘Decemberunderground’. Just listen to Adam’s drumming on ‘Too Shy To Scream’.
The album tends to have slightly poppier, upbeat feel. ‘Veronica Sawyer Smokes’ exemplifies this infectious leaning AFI have taken with this record. ‘OK, I Feel Better Now’ definitely could’ve come from the ‘Decemberunderground’ sessions. The first single ‘Medicate’ is a punchy rock number with a killer guitar solo. ‘I Am Trying Very Hard To Be Here’ kicks in with the gang vocal chorus using members from AFI’s own fan club members The Despair Faction. ‘Sacrilege’ at times has riffs that go back in AFI’s career before they went goth/dark with the release of ‘Black Sails On Sunset’ when they were another So Cal punk band.
‘Darling, I Want To Destroy You’ is some Jade’s best guitar work on the album. Unfortunately Davey’s lyrics are less imaginative. “I must confess, I am overdressed, Are you unimpressed?”. ‘Cold Hands’ is a typical AFI sounding punk song. And the closer “It Was Mine” beautifully rounds out this album with choir vocals and rising in emotion with Davey’s vocals and Jade’s guitar work.
AFI continue to write some great songs. (on the deluxe edition, the extra disc of b-sides has some great material on it, especially “Fainting Spells”) and continue to put out good albums. I know alot of fans prefer the first 3 albums when they were punk, but for me the growth in songs from ‘Black Sails’ to ‘Art of Drowning’ to ‘Sing The Sorrow’ through to ‘Decemberunderground’ and now ‘Crash Love’ are my favorite period of AFI.
Opening track ‘Torch Song’ moves away from typical AFI album intros but segues into the catchy ‘Beautiful Thieves’ and ‘End Transmission’. What becomes evident early on is how great Hunter’s bass work and Adam’s drum work is. While Jade directs the music and has great arrangements to suit Davey’s vocals, Hunter and Adam really fill out the sound that may have been lost in the electronica of ‘Decemberunderground’. Just listen to Adam’s drumming on ‘Too Shy To Scream’.
The album tends to have slightly poppier, upbeat feel. ‘Veronica Sawyer Smokes’ exemplifies this infectious leaning AFI have taken with this record. ‘OK, I Feel Better Now’ definitely could’ve come from the ‘Decemberunderground’ sessions. The first single ‘Medicate’ is a punchy rock number with a killer guitar solo. ‘I Am Trying Very Hard To Be Here’ kicks in with the gang vocal chorus using members from AFI’s own fan club members The Despair Faction. ‘Sacrilege’ at times has riffs that go back in AFI’s career before they went goth/dark with the release of ‘Black Sails On Sunset’ when they were another So Cal punk band.
‘Darling, I Want To Destroy You’ is some Jade’s best guitar work on the album. Unfortunately Davey’s lyrics are less imaginative. “I must confess, I am overdressed, Are you unimpressed?”. ‘Cold Hands’ is a typical AFI sounding punk song. And the closer “It Was Mine” beautifully rounds out this album with choir vocals and rising in emotion with Davey’s vocals and Jade’s guitar work.
AFI continue to write some great songs. (on the deluxe edition, the extra disc of b-sides has some great material on it, especially “Fainting Spells”) and continue to put out good albums. I know alot of fans prefer the first 3 albums when they were punk, but for me the growth in songs from ‘Black Sails’ to ‘Art of Drowning’ to ‘Sing The Sorrow’ through to ‘Decemberunderground’ and now ‘Crash Love’ are my favorite period of AFI.
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