I’m almost ashamed at how long it took me to listen to AFI’s new album, Silver Bleeds the Black Sun…, but I did finally do it!
Especially given that I saw them the very next day after the album’s release! In any case, I’m squeezing it in before the new year, and I’ve gotta say, it was quite the experience. Prior to the album’s release, we were treated to three singles, of which only “Holy Visions” grabbed my attention and kept it there immediately. In listening to the tracks again, the first single, “Behind the Clock” is an excellent representation of what almost the entirety of the rest of the album was going to sound like. For me, this song more specifically reminded me of 2000s rock, like U2 for some reason. Or if I’m trying to call back in AFI’s history, maybe Crash Love? At least the way in which Davey was delivering his vocals.
I found his voice much more suited to this song rather than the monotone drone heard almost the whole time on the opening track, “The Bird of Prey.” That one immediately had me picturing a matador with the acoustic guitar being employed. As it went on, there were some orchestral swells that sounded like they could show up in an Empire of the Sun song someday. What I liked so much about “Holy Visions” is that since it doesn’t sound like the AFI I’m familiar with, it at least sounded like Blaqk Audio could have put out. And it’s so freaking groovy. The guitar in this track gives Hunter’s bass line in “Behind the Clock” a run for its money!
Saldy for me, a lot of the rest of the album sounded largely the same. Davey’s vocals didn’t vary too much, and neither did the overall sound of each track. They went for big, echoing, almost chamer-sounding goth rock. Which apparently more likened to the style they used when they first started releasing music. Goth-punk was the genre, but my mid-2000s self knows them only as a more hardcore emo band. So sue me if that’s what I like! I found an article stating that they liked the creative leap this album took compared to the previous two, which they claimed sounded like they weren’t committing to anything strong enough, but you’d have to pry The Blood Album out of my cold, dead hands to get me to agree with that.
With all of that being said, the closing track, “Nooneunderground,” is almost jarring when it starts because it is so different compared to the rest of the album. But selfishly, I was happy because it sounded the most like what I love from these guys. I would have to think it’s maybe a little on purpose that the name is so close to Decemberunderground, the album that launched them to the “masses.” A part of me wonders if the name means we shouldn’t ecpect any more songs like this from them in the future? Who’s to say? They take such a long time making music that I think literally anything could happen in their time left together.