Sing The Sorrow

Performer: AFI
Engineer: Joe McGrath
Producer: Jerry Finn; Butch Vig
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. A.F.I.: Davey Havok (vocals); Jade Puget (guitar); Hunter (bass); Adam Carson (drums). Recorded at Cello Studios, Los Angeles, California. SING THE SORROW was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package. This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. Personnel: Davey Havok (vocals, spoken vocals, background vocals); Anna-Lynne Williams (vocals); Jade Puget (guitar, keyboards, programming, background vocals); Suzie Katayama (cello); Adam Carson (drums, background vocals); Chris Holmes , Jerry Finn, Joe McGrath, Luke Wood, Nick 13, Ralph Saenz, Geoff Kresge, Butch Vig (background vocals). Audio Mixer: Jerry Finn. Recording information: Cello Studios, Los Angeles, CA. Illustrator: Alan Forbes. Photographer: Matthew Welsh. Sing the Sorrow, their DreamWorks debut, isn't the wholesale departure from AFI's roots that some longtime fans griped about. It is merely the next step on a path that began with 1999's Black Sails in Sunset, the first album to feature guitarist Jade Puget. Assuming the role of principal songwriter, Puget wrapped vocalist Davey Havok's gothic tendencies in songs that put a finer point on the aggressive hardcore of AFI's earlier material, and massaged hooks from a morass of crashing rhythm, punk rock riffs, and Havok's opaque lyrics. The backing of DreamWorks meant that AFI could now hire major-league production to tweak what Puget had started. And they did. Work on AFI's major-label bow began in August of 2002 at L.A.'s Cello Studios, with Butch Vig (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins) and Jerry Finn (Green Day, Rancid) at the helm. Emerging in early 2003 with Sing the Sorrow, it's clear the molting process AFI began with Black Sails in Sunset is complete. Vig and Finn kept the band's nucleus of pummeling California hardcore but stretched the songs lengthwise to incorporate greater lyrical introspection for Havok and even more attention to melody than on previous efforts. Oscillating between churning verses and intersecting solos and riffs, "The Great Disappointment" is like junior-varsity Fugazi, while the heroic emo chord changes of "This Celluloid Dream" transform Havok's preening wail into a sensitive croon, and single "Girls Not Grey" is a car-radio singalong of pure genius. It's true that the anthemic backing vocal choruses of material like "Girls Not Grey" and "Bleed Black" make the songs more pop than hardcore or even Havok's beloved goth. And the distorted synth and drum programming on "Silver and Cold" and "Death of Seasons" is a cheeky production trick that isn't very successful when married to the songs' upbeat choruses. But neither the producers nor the band went overboard. Just when the strings, piano, and rainstorm effects threaten to turn Sing the Sorrow into a My Dying Bride album, there is a burst of hardcore like "Dancing Through Sunday" to recall California pioneers of the genre like Dead Kennedys or SST transplants H�sker D�. Whatever factions of the band's longterm fans might think of their major-label affiliation, Sing the Sorrow represents a coalescing of the band's sound. And that's fine with AFI. "People have always either hated us or loved us," guitarist Puget told MTV.com. "And the reactions tend to be pretty extreme on both sides, but the hatred is just as cool because people are actually reacting. It's either, 'F*ck those guys,' or 'I f*ckin' love AFI. They rock.'" ~ Johnny Loftus With its major label debut SING THE SORROW, AFI (aka A Fire Inside), has made the leap from being strictly hardcore punk denizens to a more complex outfit dabbling in goth guitar textures and a soaring sound. With Nirvana/Smashing Pumpkins producer Butch Vig and Green Day/Rancid knob-twirler Jerry Finn manning the board, this transition ends up being a smooth one. Swirling synths, disembodied harmonies and the Tool-like bashing of drummer Adam Carson help the foreboding "Miseria Cantare" set a mood closer to Dead Can Dance than the Dead Kennedys. Although "Death of Season" predominantly rides a hardcore vibe, the most obvious indicators that this ain't your older brother's punk rock are "The Leaving Song Pt. II," with its sing-along-chorus and pounding rhythm, the dark Cult-like rocker "Bleed Black," and "This Celluloid Dream," a charged anthem of vulnerability. Further indications that AFI successfully straddles the worlds of mainstream acceptance and street credibility are radio-friendly songs like "The Leaving Song" and "The Great Disappointment" featuring Jade Puget's melodic riffing and Davey Havok's heartfelt crooning. This Bay Area quartet seals the innovative SING THE SORROW with "Girl's Not Grey," a perfect pop-punk song that rides along on catchy, chanting harmonies and churning guitar.

Rolling Stone (3/20/03, p.64) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...SING THE SORROW is a dark planet that refracts various strains of rock, from punk to hardcore to metal to mope rock, and beckons everyone to twist and shout along..." Spin (4/03, pp.101-2) - "...Retaining nu metal's most-friendly sonic whomp, the band replace the genre's pervasive despair with open-hearted punk uplift....Even this record's darkest moments sound hopeful..." Q (01/01/04, p.79) - Ranked #23 in Q's "The 50 Best Albums of 2003" - "[Incorporates] U2's dynamics and Killing Joke's apocalyptic atmospherics..."

Hardcore revivalists-turned-goth-punks AFI ascended to a new level of stardom when they decided to slap on some eyeliner and embrace their inner Robert Smiths. After several independent releases, the Southern California-based outfit released their major-label debut, SING THE SORROW, in 2003 to much acclaim. That album's darker new-wave tendencies were taken one step further on 2006's DECEMBERUNDERGROUND. AFI's gloomier aesthetic was only given further validation by their legions of fans who dubbed themselves the Despair Faction.

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