AFI
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AFI - Silver Bleeds The Black Sun
AFI
Silver Bleeds The Black Sun
AFI Book
AFI
Andi Coulter
AFI - Black Sails In The Sunset
AFI
Black Sails In The Sunset
AFI
Sing the Sorrow
AFI
Bodies
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Review: AFI – Silver Bleeds The Black Sun

AFI - Silver Bleeds The Black Sun
Adam Grundy

Reinvention has its way of taking many different forms. A reinvention of style or a new choice of clothing can lead someone else to think a person we thought we knew is trying out new things. When it comes to music, AFI have never shied away from their own reinvention as they have gone from album to album in their storied career. Their newest record, Silver Bleeds The Black Sun, once again finds the four-piece band on the precipice of another moving reinvention as they move away from some of the post-punk and electronica-tinged rock of Bodies and perhaps even what was found on AFI (The Blood Album). Instead, this latest taste of music leans into AFI’s ability to captivate through a variety of stylistic choices made strategically at the right moments in time to achieve the greatest impact. Silver Bleeds The Black Sun feels a bit like the encapsulation of all the styles AFI have been known for over their 34+ year career, and goes big into arena rock moments paired with gothic sensibilities to remind The Despair Faction that this is still the same band they fell in love with and have seen evolve with grace. Just when you think that you’ve got a handle on what AFI is and the sound you expect to hear on subsequent releases, the band turns expectations on their head and finds unique ways to continue their unwavering evolution.

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AFI to Release New Album This Year

AFI
Jason Tate

I missed this last month, but it looks like Adam Carson confirmed AFI have completed their new album:

“It’s a matter of trying to figure out where it slots into the year. As far as recording, it’s done and I’m excited.”

When I ask him how this album stands apart from the rest, Carson’s face lights up with boyish enthusiasm. Like it’s the first time he’s ever promoted a record. “It’s the first time we’ve made a focused record. We leaned into post-punk influences, and it feels cohesive. From start to finish, it’s got a natural flow—a specific time, a specific place.”

Review: AFI – Andi Coulter

AFI Book
Adam Grundy

The latest book by Andi Coulter, called AFI, takes a comprehensive look at the meteoric rise of the legendary punk band AFI whom have been no strangers to reinvention throughout their storied musical career. While Coulter mentions in the Prelude that this book is “not an all-encompassing narrative” on the band, AFI still serves as a gripping tale of a band with a clear vision for their music, style, and ethos. From the early days of AFI finding their footing in the underground punk scene, to their breakthrough into the mainstream on Sing the Sorrow, everything flows with great pacing and intricate details that even the band’s most dedicated fans will devour. In an easily-digestable 130-plus page effort, Coulter does a fantastic job of getting to the core of what made AFI such a key major label “catch,” while offering clues as to why certain records didn’t resonate as firmly with their fans. It’s a book that you won’t be able to put down, and can easily swim through in one sitting.

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Review: AFI – Black Sails In The Sunset

AFI - Black Sails In The Sunset
Adam Grundy

When AFI began their fourth studio album, Black Sails In The Sunset, with the memorable gang vocals of “Through our bleeding, we are one!” they lit the match for one of the most explosive band trajectories ever witnessed in this scene. This would be the first LP with the now-classic lineup of Jade Puget, Adam Carson, Hunter Burgan, and Davey Havok, and featured a dramatic shift away from the punk rock sound they had explored on their earlier work in favor of a darker-tinged aesthetic. Black Sails In The Sunset is one of those gripping albums that grab the listener by the throat from the very first spin and beckons them to join in the fray. While AFI certainly weren’t the only punk band to explore a darker side to the sound, they did seem to do it a bit more flawlessly than the bands that would later emulate their career path.

This album has recently received a fresh vinyl reissue via Craft Recordings, that releases on July 19, 2024, and it includes several additional bonus tracks like “Midnight Sun,” “Who Knew?”, “Weight Of Words” and the previously vinyl-only song of “Lower It” has been added to the tail end of the tracklisting (rather than closing out Side A, as found on previous vinyl versions). AFI have re-captured our collective imaginations on this thrilling, comprehensive reissue that hits just as hard as it did back in the early summer of 1999.

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