Review Summary: A Classic Hardcore Punk EP
The music matches the cover art instantly with the atmospheric, discordant introduction to opening song ‘fall children’. A sense of Halloween is characterised by unfriendly intervals in the guitar line, think Smash It Up by The Damned, but 100 times more sinister. Davey Havok’s instantly recognizable vocals join in with the sinisterism and here he is doing his best Danzig impression, his voice descending from every line as if The Misfits have asked him to audition (which they should seriously consider if AFI do ever split up)
The song then does a complete 180 and speeds up dramatically, taking on a more hardcore punk approach in the same vain as bands like Osker and The Filaments. They absolutely nail the genre, showing fantastic musicianship in the rhythm section with a driving bass Matt Freeman would be proud of. AFI are absolutely cooking here. It makes me want to roll back the years and find a pit and bounce into everybody. The guitar chords have subtle changes during the song to keep it fresh and interesting.
The 4 piece have a great instinct for knowing when is appropriate to change pace. The Gorilla Biscuits-esque breakdown adds another layer to what sets AFI apart from most bands.
We need to mention The Misfits again as AFI launch into a cover of ‘Halloween’, fitting with the theme of the cover art and ‘Fall Children’. So many covers are just traced drawings, but AFI chose to use the original as a basic guide, making it harder hitting and aggressive. The Misfits version seems old and laboured compared to the upgrade.
More terrifying atmosphere is added onto the end of the track. A piano played in a non conventional way: Opening the top of the piano and randomly plucking strings and experimenting with more uncomfortable soundscape, thumping the keys without order.
Often Avant Garde music is without question the most pretentious genre of music by a long way, but AFI employ this perfectly; no note is wasted, it doesn’t go on too long and serves its purpose. If I had a nightmare this would be playing in the background. Think ‘A Day In The Life’ by The Beatles but they watched the exorcist before recording Sargeant Pepper (I know it wasn’t out but I don’t know any 60’s horror films).
‘The Boy Who Destroyed the World’ is your classic ‘this would sound great on a tony hawks game’ hardcore punk ball of energy. You then google it and find out it was. A hardcore punk song very much in the same ballpark as the hardcore moments of the Eps opener. There are loads of different parts to this, the drums bass and guitar sound like it would be an intricate and complex song to cover. Davey delivers a great vocal performance again and shows his versatility in the break down section.
In final track ‘Totalimmortal’ you hear AFI flirting with more styles, emo-punk mixed with hardcore punk I would call this, something that seemed ahead of its time during in comparison with the release date.
I got really excited towards the end of the track when the guitar slowly faded away and it was just drums and bass, to my amazement Davey Havok started rapping. He only did it very briefly, abruptly stopping just before things became interesting. They should’ve taken a risk and gone full Rage Against the Machine at this point, but instead the track just randomly ended with a huge whimper… this was the worst part of the EP… the fact it ended.
That’s a good sign when the worst part of the EP was the fact it ended. This was a fantastic 4 track mini album performed by a band that has clearly spent a lot of hard work mastering their craft. The musicianship was excellent, all four members of the band destroy the myth that punk musicians cannot sing or play their instruments. I would argue that Davey Havok is one of the most accomplished singers in the genre, seamlessly being able to change styles at the drop of a hat and able to boisterously nail pitches in the higher register as well as lending his voice to slow, creepy horror rock that suits the band so well.
I love unique bands and artists and there is no question in my mind that AFI are in that category. Theres only one AFI, but there are many imitators. I just wish this EP was a full albums worth of songs performed in a similar manner to the record we have here.
*************** This review is an excerpt from a video on my youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/@burntdisc
