Rolling Stone has recently compiled a list of 50 albums for their "Top 50 Pop-Punk Albums. AFI’s “The Art of Drowning” is rightfully included in this very respectable list. For me personally, this was the year that I was introduced to AFI with this actual album by a boy who I went to school with. I remember how much I loved hearing “Initiation… into Lost Souls” and I was hooked.
I find Arts to be an immensely important milestone for AFI as a band. But I think there earlier Punk stuff was a lot more… well Punk. I think Hunter talked about it with God called in sick. That’s when they became a little bit more ballady. Art seems to work off of that with more depth.
I sometimes don’t know how to quantify Black Sails and Art in my head. There’s such a clear division between AFI as a punk band and has an alt-rock band. And this is where the division is. I love it for what it is, but it’s neither Punk nor alt-rock it kind of throws off the balance somehow.
As a side note, I see a similar parallel with current AFI. Burials and the Blood album don’t really fit in with what the band was in the 2000s. So I’m curious to see where they go from here.
They would take that as a compliment. I agree with you.
SYMAOYE was where the darkness began, like clouds rolling in. Then Black Sails was the storm.
AOD is one of my favorite albums. It brings back memories for me and is the birth of my addiction to them.
The only thing I was a little disappointed with in Blood Album was ‘not enough Davey screaming’. However, songs like “The Wing that Carries Me Away” among others bring it all together for me.
I’m a sucker for all their last songs on each album. They all have such a “closing the door” on this idea feel. Wind that Carries is a cool Blood track. It holds the feeling of the album while capping off the sound and paving the way for their next idea.
