Review Summary: A Great Album (Just Not In My Opinion)
It only takes 53 seconds into the opening track ‘Miseria Cantare’ before the fans of hardcore punk era AFI think ‘blimey…. This isn’t the hardcore punk AFI of old I’m listening to…what on earth is this… the industrial drums, the mid-tempo chanting, the cheesy stadium rock…. I don’t think I’m going to like this.” They are met with a mixture of styles that continues throughout the album completely alien to anything AFI have recorded before. There are no “whoas” here, maybe the band listened to the complaints of NOFX.
Granted, there are some moments on this album the OG AFI fans can get behind, the catchiness and optimism of ‘Dancing Through Sunday’ (even with the stadium rock breakdown in the middle and Iron Maiden guitar solo that follows) and ‘Girls Not Grey’, with its over-the-top gothic mid-section that adds to it rather than hinders it. The latter has become a staple part of the bands back catalogue and rightly so.
We are treated to different variations of emo, screamo, post hardcore and goth rock throughout the album and I commend them for trying something new. There is only so much hardcore punk you can record and play at gigs without it getting tiresome, especially if your band have a recording and touring schedule as busy as AFI. They have 2 options; keep on doing the same one dimensional hardcore punk or try something new with the fear of losing fans.
The new styles feel natural to the band. If I had never heard of AFI before I wouldn’t think this was their experimental album, it’s as if they have been doing this style for their whole career.
It helps to get a producer as accomplished as Butch Vig of ‘Nevermind’ by Nirvana fame amongst others, to make sure the change to a major label runs smoothly. He has encouraged AFI to restructure their songs and there is so much layering and clever links that make the arrangements feel natural even though there is a lot going on musically. There are so many good examples of a seamless change of style throughout the record. And lets not forget Jerry Finn is also a producer, who brings a punkier edge to proceedings.
The Prodigy-esque drum and bass section during the emo screamo number ‘Death Of Seasons’, also featuring a sombre string moment at the end of the track is the peak of musical exploration, as is the acoustic breakdown on Bleed Black (reminiscent of ‘House of the Rising Sun’), adding an epic change of pace and new depth to the bands song writing ability.
I said in my review of ‘All Hallows’ that I was impressed Davey Havok’s versatility as a vocalist, little did I know he wasn’t even scratching the surface with that EP. His voice is suited to every style he turns his hands at; Gothic, melodic emo-pop and screamo, as well as your typical straight forward rock song like ‘The Great Disappointment’ sees Havok seamlessly sounding like The Smiths at the beginning and Linkin Park at the end.
Generally this album’s new shift is not to my taste, I’ve always detested emo; The look, the atmosphere at the gigs, the seriousness of it all, I can hear you now ‘yeah because punks don’t take themselves too seriously at all’ that maybe true but we have bands like The Vandals and Pizzatramp and Nofx and Dirt Box Disco and a load others that know how to have a laugh. The way emo bands have whiney poppy over emotional choruses which are instantly followed up by the screamo singer sing/shouting shout/singing at one pitch makes me feel physically sick…they all do it all the time, it’s just something that doesn’t resonate with me and AFI are guilty of it on this album a few times (see ‘Paper Airplanes’). Luckily Havok’s voice is tolerable is this scenario.
I had 2 ways to rate this album…. Number 1: “For the genre it really works and is amazing” or: ‘This genre doesn’t really do it for me”. The former is true. If I was a fan of this style, it would be getting a 4.5 out of 5, but a lot of songs on the album just aren’t for me. So I’m considering both schools of thought.
I respect AFI so much for being able to change style, despite being on a major label it seems authentic and genuine. I don’t feel as though they have sold out, I actually feel as though they have been clever. Wanting to release music that sounds so different to anything they’ve done before on the same label could just alienate everybody who is a fan and doesn’t give them the opportunity to get a bigger reach of people who don’t know about DIY bands and labels and would have missed out on a great emo/post hardcore record.
That’s sad that people and music is like that, but if Willie Nelson wanted to release a punk album it would probably make sense for him to sign to TNS records rather than stay with the country folk. Speaking of which, ‘The Leaving Song’ stripped down to just guitar and vocals actually makes me want to hear a whole album of that… Willie Havok anyone?!
I feel like I’m doing the album an injustice by giving it a low rating due to the adventurousness of new styles and well produced songs with intricate sections and many different soundscapes the producers have managed to conjure. I’ve read reviews calling this album a revelation and I can see why, I’ve read reviews calling this about a monstrosity and I can also see that.
Both make sense to me.. this album isn’t black and white (like AFIs new look) on that basis I have to give this album a relunctant low score. I can’t give it higher because although there are songs I did really enjoy (“Girls Not Grey”, “The Leaving Song”, “Dancing Through Sunday”), it’s not for me, but I can understand why people would like this. It was also way too long. A great album, just not in my opinion.
******** This review is an excerpt from a video on my youtube dedicated to reviewing CDs https://www.youtube.com/burntdisc
