"Behind The Times" is an early E.P., released by Key Lime Pie Records, from the wonderful band known as A Fire Inside (a.k.a. AFI) during their early years.
This E.P. is AFI's second release in their career, and it is a good one at that. The E.P. contains 3 songs that were later released on Answer That And Stay Fashionable (their first full length album), 2 songs later released on the vinyl version of Very Proud Of Ya, and 1 song that was only released on this record.
The album starts off with a good intro song known as "Who Said You Could Touch Me?" followed by "Rolling Balls", later off of VPOY. The first of these two songs is a good aggressive punk song and is a great start to this E.P. Davey sings about how some person wants to get close to him but he just wants them to get away. The second song, "Rolling Balls", is a funny song about how a guy gets his balls cut off so that he can be on the girls bowling team. A good listening experience with fast drumming and good bass work; also a catchy guitar. The whole song goes together greatly.
The next three songs are off of ATASF, "High School Football Hero", "Rizzo In The Box", and "Cereal Wars." "High School Football Hero" starts off with ringing guitars and a cool bass part. Then everything comes together with Davey singing about becoming a high school football hero and what its like to be one. A fun, lighthearted song to sing along with when you're in the mood. The next song, "Rizzo In The Box" is another great song with palm-muted guitar riffs and fast drumming at times. The bass in the song is good, supporting everything and is also very fast. A fun song to listen to. The last of the ATASF songs is "Cereal Wars", and what an excellent song it is. The song starts off with a catchy bass line with ringing guitars in the background. Then a little drum fill that sounds cool pops up and the bass gets faster. Then everything gets fast and Davey comes in singing about what kind of cereal he wants from the store. A very fast song and pretty funny too if you know the words. The part at the end is the best when he yells "Give me sugar, not nuts and twigs! Do I look like a ***in' squirrel to you?"
The last song off of the E.P. is "Born In The USA", Which starts off with a man saying how a guy named Frank moved to Ukiah (AFI's birthplace). Then Davey comes in singing about what a guy likes living in "the US of A". Another funny song to close off the album.
This album as a whole shows the side of AFI that is about immature things compared to the things they sing about nowadays like on Sing The Sorrow. I would recommend downloading these songs (since this is hard to find now). To get a few you could pick up ATASF or the vinyl version of VPOY. But to get "Born In The USA", you need to either find this or download. But if you do find this, then I definitely suggest that you buy it right away.
3.5/5
