Send "AFI " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Thephoenix |
 With 2006's Decemberunderground, A.F.I. proved that no matter how many fans they alienate by forsaking their SoCal punk origins and being horrible, there will always be a fresh crop of mopy teenagers to purchase anything soaked in melodrama and eyeliner. But when dumped, do hardcore kids not cry? When anguished, do emo kids not throw furniture through the windows of their respective Denny's? Are we really all so different? Can't we all agree that Crash Love is A.F.I.'s triumphant rock-and-roll redemption? ...full text |
| Altpress |
| Many of today's bands like to describe their new records as "bigger sounding," simply because they convinced their labels to pay the massive fees for their dicking around in the studio. Most acts could learn more than a few lessons from AFI, a unit who are well aware that sounding big is all about having a vision in the songwriting phase. Which is why Crash Love's dozen tracks are packed with as much exuberance, mystery and drama one can handle. Overseen by producers Joe McGrath (Alkaline Trio) and Jacknife Lee (Bloc Party, REM), the album is ambitious in its execution. AFI are a dynamic rock band at their core: The rhythm section of Adam Carson (drums) and Hunter Burgan (bass) has matured into a tighter, precise unit; guitarist Jade Puget's sense of the appropriate remains crystal clear; and frontman Davey Havok's cartwheeling down the pretentiousness tightrope puts a sweat-and-blood face to his ruminations on everything from celebrity culture to personal loss. But it's their detail to arrangements and atmospheres that separate AFI from the legion of subcultures who carry battered crosses under a "-punk" suffix. From the 15 seconds of '40s horror-movie ambiance that opens the gothmo "Torch Song," to the '90s-tinged, melancholy-and-menace of "It Was Mine," Crash Love reveals more treasures with repeated listens. ...full text |
| Latimesblogs |
| The boys of AFI are goth lifers -- though it's not the makeup (well, not entirely) but their message. The dozen tracks on the band's latest, "Crash Love," once again mourn decay and romance gone wrong over sweeping, layered post-punk guitars. To singer-lyricist Davey Havok, love is an endlessly tragic and anxious state: "I'd tear out my eyes for you, my dear / anything to see everything that you do." Produced by Joe McGrath and Jacknife Lee with the band, "Crash Love" is AFI's most confident, enjoyable album yet. Though there remain echoes of the Cure, the Smiths and many other morose pop heroes from the 1980s, the result feels more organic now, rooted in the genuinely bleak and hopeless rather than the simply theatrical sounds of My Chemical Romance. Within the collection's tightly crafted 43 minutes is music of gloom, force and energy. The band finds hope and something approaching joy in the rousing, anthemic "Beautiful Thieves," and Jade Puget's guitars sound bright enough for endless radio rotation on "Veronica Sawyer Smokes." Hard-core riffs lurk beneath the pleading vocals on "Sacrilege." ...full text |
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