A.F.I.
Sing The Sorrow (Dreamworks)
Reviewed by Alan Wright

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The first major label release for reigning hardcore kings A.F.I. (A Fire Inside) sees some major changes in the band's sound. A.F.I.'s had an interesting history since their inception in 1991, and especially since their first album came out in 1995. Appearance-wise, they've gone from a somewhat goofy looking hardcore band who dressed in Mod suits and had short hair to, at least in singer Davey Havoc's case, a long-haired, tattooed and pierced, gothic-looking outfit. The sound has changed a lot, too. With their landmark album Black Sails In The Sunset (1999), the band started exploring much darker, a little more metal-influenced music, although it was still really fast. A lot of that had to do with the departure of original guitarist Mark Stopholese, who had been replaced by much more sonically diverse Jade Puget. Davey Havoc really perfected his soaring scream-sing style around this time too, sounding like the bastard child of Glenn Danzig in the Misfits days. The process continued with 1999's All Hallow's E.P. and 2000's The Art of Drowning album, their last for the Nitro label. With this album, the band has added more texture, keyboards, acoustic guitars, strings, psychedelic sound effects, and more complex song structures and dynamics. Havoc's vocals have gotten even more melodic, and the band adds a lot of full-on choruses of soaring back ups to augment the sound. Still, a lot of the trademark A.F.I. sound is there: the amazingly catchy choruses, cryptically weird lyrics, dark imagery. The initial pressings of this come in a really cool hardbound book filled with lyrics, drawings, photos and sketches by the band members, plus a DVD of a short film they made called "Clandestine," which is so bizarre you have to see it to even begin to try and understand it. There are some truly amazing songs on this release. "Girls No Grey" is the bog radio hit, but for me "Bleed Black" with its super addictive chorus gets me. "Death Of Seasons," a super-fast tune that is probably the closest to their older style, features Havoc screaming in his older hardcore style and then switching to smooth singing on the chorus. Weird electronic effects filter in briefly, and the song ends slowed down with a cascade of strings! The slower songs, like "The Great Disappointment," have really interesting textures, with a sound that is somewhat akin to early Black Sabbath crossed with Joy Division. Among the biggest departures are the melancholy "The Leaving Song," a truly sad song in which Havoc's vocals are accompanied only by electric, acoustic guitars and some keyboards. This is one of those albums that, upon first play, may cause you to be pretty floored by the changes in sound, but the more I play it, the more I get into it.

© 2003 - Alan Wright