Album Reviews
Hear it Now
View Listening to AFI's teenage recordings, one never would have guessed they'd be future leaders of the eyeliner-punk pack (Alkaline Trio, My Chemical Romance) to fill in the blanks between the Cure and the Misfits. Emerging out of the same Bay Area punk scene that spawned Rancid and Green Day, AFI for most of their early career were associated with these groups but remained a step harder than their pop-punk contemporaries.
That all began to change with a Cure cover in 1998, followed by Black Sails in the Sunset in 1999. With singer Davey Havok's bellow sounding more late Danzig than early Misfits, and the band's all-terrain hardcore beginning to get mired in black sludge, something original began to coalesce. Some call it goth-core, which AFI have encouraged by embracing Halloween, pancake makeup and lyrics about drinking blood.
The real rupture came with Sing the Sorrow, which some hoped would be the band's Nirvana moment. Teaming with Butch Vig and pop-punk producer Jerry Finn, AFI took a cleaver and hacked off their punk past. Sorrow exploded with the swagger of a mature band finding its own footing. Pop choruses blasted out of nearly every song, guitars ricocheted in and out of verses in a dozen different voices and whispers built to screams built to full-band war cries. It was practically impossible to tell this was the same group that recorded "I Wanna Get a Mohawk (But Mom Won't Let Me Get One)" eight years earlier; this was more a band that should be singing "I Wanna Get a Manicure (But My Fans Think It's Gay)." While hardcore-punk fans bellyached, AFI's album sales climbed from 312,000 to 1.1 million.
But in the end, AFI only became more popular; they didn't become huge. So the question Decemberunderground grapples with is, what happens when you plan an orgy but end up just having sex? The answer: Well, you plan another orgy. The band regroups with producer Finn (but not Vig), and all the pop hooks and black-cloud guitars are there, along with a new electronic-industrial edge. The band writes a fist-pumping shout-along chorus like no one else; its "clippety-clop, clippety-clop -- whoa!" formula works every time. But where Sorrow is a great album, listenable front to back, Decemberunderground just has good songs.
Not surprisingly, every stand-out track touches on the theme of suicide, from the march-and-chant lead single, "Miss Murder," to the wonderfully overblown black-metal choruses of "Affliction" to the ridiculously catchy "Summer Shudder." Beyond these, there are moments on Decemberunderground that are poppier than anything AFI have ever done -- "The Interview" would be at home on the soundtrack to the next Spider-Man movie -- yet at the same time, the band plays to the angry youth with more polyp-producing screaming than ever. AFI's true strengths are in the middle of these two extremes, at the cemetery gates where the asexual teen misfits come to slash at their arms with penknives -- but not too deep, because that may really hurt.
From its creepy bedtime intro to its screaming Corpse Bride finale, Decemberunderground is a thoroughly enjoyable album to listen to, yet one senses between the notes that something isn't right in the world of AFI. The band continues to stand at the crossroads between Warped Tour package band and arena-rock headliner. Decemberunderground, then, is the sound of growing pains.
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- Prelude 12/21
- Kill Caustic
- Miss Murder
- Summer Shudder
- Interview
- Love Like Winter
- Affliction
- Missing Frame
- Kiss and Control
- Killing Lights
- 37mm
- Endlessly, She Said
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Review 1 of 11
afireinside24 writes:
Reading the review for this now is hillarious is it not?
Notice how the reviewer talks about how gret sing the sorrow is and how it made them bigger but not quite monster big yet, which was very true.
He says they still stand between a wraped-tour package band and a stadium filler band but what actually happened?
Thats right, it ended up being their most successfull album yet, blowing them straight into the mainstream world of holding a number onne video on TRL for weeks straight with both singles miss murder and love like winter.
Dont get me wrong, STS is definatley the better album, but everyone knows who this band is now with just one song from the album. Miss murder.
Thourougly enjoyable from front to back, and their catchiest songs to date, any punk fan can enjoy it and even grandma will love love like winter.
BRING ON THE NEXT!
Apr 7, 2008 21:24:07
Review 2 of 11
MissMurder writes:
Decemberunderground is a more melodic and mature sound for AFI. They still touch many different subjects. I think it is a great album and I absolutely love it. The members of AFI are very talented when it comes to music. Great job boys! Keep on making very catchy songs that stay in our heads forever.
Dec 4, 2007 12:49:30
Review 3 of 11
popcore writes:
December underground is one of the best and worst albums of mature AFI, i wouldn't define AFI as goth-core, it's much more like pop-core, and being very deep into D.I.Y. veganism, straightedge and fashionism, i think that this kind of sound is the new step for a clearer future.
We deserve the medias, and we are going to take it, no matter what other people think, they rather get a chance to get in to all of this commercialization of non-commercial music. AFI is simply the best.
Nov 25, 2007 09:05:21
Review 4 of 11
JadeXShadows writes:
DECEMBERUNDERGROUND is brilliant...They may not sond like Their old album Sing The Sorrow but its still great..I honestly think that A.F.I. is experimenting with new techniques for making a hit cd like DECEMBERUNDERGROUND....every album has been improving lately and I like that about them....Get A.F.I.'S latest CD DECEMBERUNDERGROUND..Its worht it!!!!!! love JadeXShadows
Mar 26, 2007 13:56:43
Review 5 of 11
Grenade666 writes:
well like the first tracks , they are really good but then it begins to lose its touch at the end. it seemed like if they rushed through the last songs. other than that, it was great!
Oct 17, 2006 06:27:13
Review 6 of 11
nVidia725 writes:
Bravo AFI, great CD. If you don't have DC yet and are still undecided, just listen to it with an open mind. I'ts highly expiramental, the band rarely stuck to formula on this release.Their sound is far more advanced musicaly than most pop-emo bands resulting from 15 years of experience, and their lyrics now have poetic underlying themes (mostly about death) that are truely releveant. That is what sets them apart. Unfortunately, they don't show us the same hard, edgy, raw sarcasm and cynicism they had back in the day, and they've gone mainstream with their single "miss Murder" in high rotation, but they're still blazing new paths. One cannot expect them to remain in the past forever, the world is not the same as it was in 2000, society has changed, and AFI has responded to this with a bonfire within! Obviously there are 3 types of fans, the first generation, the undecided, and the younger, more easily influenced teens. They have been making music for the last 15 years. Puting that into perspective, that is a long time for any person, and they've done much good work in that time. Maybe their best work is behind them, so what? You coulsn't ask anymore from them, 90% bands will never make it this far, 8+CDs, that is saying something
Sep 15, 2006 22:07:32
Review 7 of 11
steveybones writes:
i never really cared much for afi. they say "you cant really classify their music or 'categorize' it" but really you can. its typical dark-pop music. all they sing about is depression and suicidal thoughts its just for people to sulk in their sadness and its lame. the only reason i have listened to every cd they have from first to last is because of my girlfriend who loves the stuff but hearing decemberunderground shows how unoriginal they really can be. the entire cd is a mixture of crappy electronica beats and music that sounds like it was literally ripped from the 80's it sounds like a nightmare. none of it sounds original it all sounds like old eighty's songs... i say lose the acrylics and the make up... make some real music
Jul 6, 2006 12:37:58
Review 8 of 11
janicethemenace writes:
I've followed AFI about 6 years and have watched their progression from Black Sails thru to the new Decemberunderground. Each album has been amazing in it's own way, each an evolutionary progression ~ each unique in it's own right. These boys only get better ~ more accomplished and expereinced! The newest release contains music that is at once graceful and deep but with a ferocious edge. It's at once classic AFI and a whole new creature. The new thing I find here is that as different as the component songs are they have a cohesive feel and a unity of character I haven't felt with their albums before. Decemberunderground has not left my player and probably won't for sometime!
Jun 14, 2006 11:58:11
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