Sensations Press

Emarosa- We Will Detonate Tour- The Fillmore- 5/3/17- Silver Spring, MD

Sum 41- We Will Detonate Tour- The Fillmore- 5/3/17- Silver Spring, MD

AFI- The Blood Tour- Rams Head Live- 2/8/17- Baltimore, MD

Photos by: Maggie Friedman (maggie london photography)

AFI- The Blood Tour- Rams Head Live- 2/8/17- Baltimore, MD

Photos by: Maggie Friedman (maggie london photography)

As It Is are heading out with Roam and Grayscale in the spring. Check out the dates below!

           AFI are a lot like Green Day.  Both bands released a lot of music in the 90’s that people will claim was the peak of their success.  Both released albums in the early 2000’s that re-boosted their careers.  Both of those albums were followed by albums that were lackluster by comparison.  The two bands have toured together, even seeing Davey Havok come onstage to sing “Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?”  Frontmen Billie Joe Armstrong and Havok both had stints playing Saint Jimmy in the stage-adaption of Green Day’s American Idiot.  Lastly, both bands had pretty passable comeback albums within the past six months. While AFI probably won’t have the same fanfare that Green Day’s had during their return to the spotlight, their latest effort AFI (The Blood Album) is worth the listen.

           Like a number of people in their early 20’s, my first exposure to AFI was with the “Miss Murder” and “Love Like Winter” videos, and The Blood Album certainly plays off a certain level of nostalgia for those that loved the Decemberunderground era.  “Dark Snow” is more of a full-fledged song than “Prelude 12/21,” but Havok’s singing is more of a chant and the “oh’s” at the end certainly make the song only serve as an introduction.  In fact, most of the album sounds in line with the likes of Decemberunderground and Sing the Sorrow.  The bridge of “Still a Stranger” almost has Havok screaming what sounds like a goth break up anthem.  “Dumb Kids” even feels like a nod to the band’s work in the 90’s.  The Blood Album’s two best songs are in the dead center of the album.  “So Beneath You” is a furious anti-church album that sees Havok taunting, “strike me down.”  Havok’s lyrics are cliché, but he delivers them with such fury that it’s impossible not to get enticed.  “Snow Cats” is much less focused thematically, but Havok’s warbly vocals are reminiscent of the early aughts era of AFI, plus Jade Puget’s solo compliments it nicely.

           The album does lose its rhythm in the back half.  “White Offerings” sounds like the nu-metal stylings of Trapt, and “Feed From the Floor” is a weak attempt at gothy pop-rock.  “Feed from the Floor” sounds like a bad rip off of Nothing (who will be touring with AFI this Winter).  “Pink Eyes” should have served as the album closer.  It’s very reminiscent of great post-punk, and it has some great guitar licks from Puget, while having the hugeness that made AFI great in the first place.  Instead, the album closes on “The Wind that Carries Me Away,” a blues song with bad middle school Myspace poetry for lyrics.

           While the similarities between both Green Day and AFI can be made, there should be one difference to be highlighted: Green Day are a group of global, stadium-level Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees, and AFI, well, they’ve opened for Green Day.  Maybe, that’s for the best.