AFI “Sing The Sorrow”
March of 2003 is proving to be fascinating month for those who have salivated in watching the first week sales of previous Indie giants make their major-label debut splashes. Among THE ATARIS, CAVE IN, and BOY SETS FIRE (which streets April 1st), AFI is clearly the band emerging with a big stick, breaking down the walls of the mainstream. After a decade long career already behind them, “Sing The Sorrow” sets the stage for AFI to truly plow their own destiny for the decade now before them. The question however is, how many older fans are going to be following them on that epic journey? And does it even matter? Well, for starters, you can count me in. “Sing The Sorrow,” although lacking some of the ferocity that often made Davey Havok and Co. impossible to stray from, shows a level of refinement in listening experience that’s still top-notch. As a trade off to some of that raw aggression exhibited on “Black Sails in the Sunset,” and “The Art of Drowning,” AFI work hard the atmospherics of their craft, continuing their exploration of all things imbued in blackness. Everytime I hear the creepy piano intro to “Silver and Cold,” it reminds me of how far this band has come. Massive choruses and background vocals support the band at its finest moments, especially on the scorching tune, “Dancing Through Sunday,” and the peppy single, “Girl’s Not Grey.” These two songs harken back to the band’s breakthrough single, “Total Immortal,” which THE OFFPSPRING made famous. A pleasant surprise on “Sing the Sorrow” is the band’s tasteful use of electronic touches, which unusually compliments the band’s hardest moments, versus merely providing mood support eminating from distant places. In terms of the vocal duties performed by Sir Havoc, he’s generally on the ball – hitting the poignant notes, and continually nailing the gutteral screams. I absolutely love the part in “Death of Seasons,” where Davey sings, “Cause this hate is fucking real!” (although, curiously, the booklet spells the key word there as ‘scuking’ – which probably allowed this disc to not come with a parental guidance sticker – LAME). If anyone is on the fence in deciding whether to purchase this release, I think the production works of luminaries, Butch Vig and Jerry Finn (whose best work might just be the sound on RANCID’s “And Out Come The Wolves”) should sway enough people to turn in their hard earned cash. “Sing The Sorrow” sounds absolutely beautiful, not failing to prey to overproduction based on degrees of loudness. Vig and Finn capture the essence of this band akin to a flask of fine perfume. AFI carry a unique branding to their output, and it’s been tattooed all over this release. If your expectations are in line of being knocked out by an unyielding assault of hardcore patterns and metallic crunches, you’ll probably be sorely disappointed, but if your listening objectives place substance over superficial preferences, AFI’s “Sing The Sorrow” is essential for your senses.
Dreamworks
