Album Reviews
Announced as yet another “bold new era for the iconic band,” AFI returns with their twelfth album, Silver Bleeds The Black Sun. And while Davey looking like the reincarnation of Frank Zappa is definitely new, I would hardly call the new songs bold.
This time around, Davey & co seem to have dug through the catalogs of bands like The Cure, Bauhaus, The Cult, Sisters Of Mercy, and Echo & The Bunnymen, then tried writing songs in the same key. I’m also pretty sure at least one of them spent a decent amount of time listening to Duran Duran. Never one for subtle gestures, AFI also doesn't refrain from piling on more dramatic flourishes than you’d find in an average Desperate Housewives episode. Kudos to them though for pulling it all off with a straight face.
AFI has always evolved: the hardcore punk of Answer That and Stay Fashionable is wildly different from the dark melodic punk of The Art of Drowning, which again differs from the sound on say, Burials. But on Silver Bleeds The Black Sun, they deliver a mediocre approximation of 80’s goth, padded with grandiose gestures in an effort to hide just how hollow these songs really are.
In short: while the band may be bold in style, this album plays it safe by settling for a glossy homage to their influences.
Silver Bleeds The Black Sun... tracklist:
- The Bird of Prey
- Behind the Clock
- Holy Visions
- Blasphemy & Excess
- Spear of Truth
- Ash Speck in a Green Eye
- VOIDWARD, I BEND BACK
- Marguerite
- A World Unmade
- Noneunderground
Lacking the talent to actually play in a band, Tom decided he would write about bands instead. Turns out his writing skills are mediocre at best as well.
