Review Summary: A dying fire inside.
AFI has been around for a very long time. Very few bands can be around for as long as them and still remain relevant. Throughout the many albums that AFI has released, they have gone through many stylistic changes. Sometimes these changes don't always work out for the band, but they should definitely be commended for reinventing themselves with every album.
Now with their latest slef-titled rerlease, many were hoping to hear a culmination of all the different styles the band has gone through over the years. But if you are a fan of the bands work with The Art of Drowning or anything else before that, then I'm afraid you are out of luck.The band is much older now so it is a bit unfair to expect a bunch of guys in their 40's to reenact the teen-filled angst punk songs that they were making 20 years ago. You'll have bands like Green Day who will still try to recapture the magic they once had back in the early 90's, but fall short because it ends up sounding like a bunch of middle-aged men trying to fit in with the kids.
But AFI doesn't try that, and it's pretty obvious with their latest release. While I do respect the band for being ambitious with their style changes, I feel as though they fell a bit flat with this new release by failing to be as innovative as their previous albums. The opening track "Dark Snow" gives an indicator as to what direction the album will take. It has electronic sounds layered with some guitar licks. And it's accompanied with Davey's signature dark and moody lyrics. It has a similar sound to their previous release Burials and even mirrors Crash Love a bit too.
It is a decent opener for the album, but it's after this song where we see the band take a nosedive. On tracks like "Get hurt" and "Above the Bridge", which both have repetitive hooks with Davey repeating the same phrases over and over again. The instrumentation isn't all that impressive either. It just seems as if the band is getting lazy or just simply loosing their passion. But I guess that's what over 20 years of playing together will do to you. The album definitely does have its moments. "So beneath You" is one of the standout tracks. The song has a killer guitar riff and Davey's voice is filled with angst. A breath of fresh air for anyone who enjoys the DU era of AFI, or even the Sing The Sorrow era. White offerings also mirrors a bit of DU as well. With Davey's screams and aggressive vocals.
Hunter and Jade still show that they still have the magic touch, with hunter delivering some melodic bass lines on the song "Pink Eyes", another amazing track. It has an explosive chorus and great backing vocals that really make the song shine.
Unfortunately these songs and a few others didn't save the album from being as underwhelming as it was. Though it did have potential, many of the songs just felt like leftover ideas from Burials and not a culmination of the bands journey up to this point. The track "The Wind Carries Me Away" closes off the album, and not in a good way either. It doesn't even feel like a final track. The songwriting is pretty bland and has a weak chorus. The only redeeming part of the whole song is the half decent guitar solo Jade delivers at the end.
Overall this is a pretty disappointing release for a band with a status like AFI. Hopefully this isn't the last we will hear from the band, because it will be a terrible way to end a career as astonishing as theirs. But maybe after 25 plus years of being together, the fire inside is just starting to go out.
