AFI - Crash Love

[J@3]

It leaked this afternoon (I think) anyone else checked it out? You can find it on mininova.

This will probably grow on me like DU did, I ripped that to pieces here when it came out but overall I don't mind Crash Love. My issue though is that it lacks the creativity of Decemberunderground and the passion/aggression of Sing The Sorrow (it's absolutely nothing like the older stuff so I won't even compare).

Most of the songs are catchy, I think they'll get pretty huge after this.. moreso than before just because they are all really radio friendly. I miss the old AFI, I think they are gone forever but I'm still hoping they'll get louder/faster/heavier again. Maybe next time.

Top favourites:

Cold Hands
Ok I Feel Better Now
Torch Song (wish the whole thing was like this)

Not compatible:

End Transmission
Darling I Want To Destroy You
Medicate
Veronica Sawyer Smokes (awful)

Overall: 2/5

[benji]

I like it. It's basically just a The Cure album. It sounds better in the higher quality from the MySpace shit. It's no Decemberunderground (which is now my favorite AFI album and let's be honest was secretly a Blaqk Audio test album) and it's probably not as good as Sing The Sorrow, but I still love it. Fucking Davey and Jade must be spying on me as they keep writing albums I want. They've surpassed Thursday in the albums I most look forward to.

It's so upbeat and fucking pop, I can see why the non-girl AFI fans are raging about it. This is pure The Cure style upbeat pop. (Which, if you stop to think all the Cure albums after the early stuff they're most famous for are despite the lyrics, same thing here.) Not what I expect from AFI, or necessarily want from AFI, but I like album, even if I wish they'd give me more Decemberunderground.

[benji]

Was going to PM this but fuck it, nobody else cares, so I can double post.

RE: The bonus tracks.

I don't know about them it sounds like older AFI. As in Art of Drowning era. Black Sails in Sunset.

The two from the Crash Love sessions at least do.

In some ways that makes some sense. They were getting increasingly more complex with Sing The Sorrow and Decemberunderground, and Crash Love is in many ways stripping things back while keeping the "friendlier" aspects they developed over those two albums.

In some ways it seems like STS and DU were increasingly on the path that led to the splitting off of Blaqk Audio. Although, listening now, I think DU is the real out-lier. Sing The Sorrow is like they went too far in one direction while still moving in that "pop" direction (look at the choruses and bridges) but they got distracted with DU, and Crash Love is kinda a natural progression from Art of Drowning, plus aspects of Sing the Sorrow, and now you have Crash Love.

And this makes sense when you realize that half of Decemberunderground were probably really Blaqk Audio tracks.

The band probably doesn't follow this pattern on purpose, but I think you can clearly see Blaqk Audio developing in the albums, and they've made the split between the two, and it somewhat reset AFI to an older status in making this album.

I still can't believe Mute and Black Electric aren't on Cex Cells proper.

[J@3]

I think you're on the money with the Art Of Drowning/Crash Love progression. I'm not sure they could ever replicate Sing The Sorrow, nor would they really want to. Their older stuff was mostly made up of a lot of good songs but few epic stand-outs, and to me STS was basically an album of epic stand-outs. Davey said in an interview lately that he feels like Crash Love is the album he can be most proud of looking back on his career, maybe they are sick of STS or trying to distance themselves or something but I'd have thought that would be what they and the fans remember when they look back in years from now. Personally I've always thought Sing The Sorrow was more of a progression from the All Hallow's EP rather than a progression from Art Of Drowning, even though AH came out before Art Of Drowning did.

There's a few songs on Art Of Drowning that wouldn't be out of place on CL... Ever And A Day, A Story At Three, Morningstar and even Days Of The Phoenix... though Morningstar would probably be more suited to STS I guess.

I haven't checked out the bonus tracks yet, I will say though that Ether and Carcinogen Crush give me hope for the future. As much as I'm enjoying CL more as I listen to it, those two (Ether in particular) give me STS vibes... which is always a good thing.

Also, I am not sure I could have handled the awesome-ness of Cex Cells had it included 37mm and Love Like Winter as intended. It would've significantly weakened DU though.

[J@3]

Listening now...

Fainting Spells is great, especially the bits leading into the chorus and the insane part before the guitar solo towards the end.

We've Got The Knife ... decent, not a huge fan though. This is definitely more Black Sails/Art Of Drowning than Crash Love

Where We Used To Play ... I like it a lot, it's catchy.

100 Words ... I'm excited about this one since it's a STS cast off. Davey really does have a good voice, as unique as it is.. I wish he hadn't dulled it down for Crash Love. If anything I think this fits better on Crash Love than STS. It's very cheerful. I do like it though, not as much as the amazing Fainting Spells which I will listen to many many times.