ALBUM REVIEW: AFI – ‘Silver Bleeds The Black Sun…’

This is about the third ‘fresh start’ for AFI in as many albums. It’s strange that they’re so adamant about this, too, when any of Davey Havok’s 50-odd side-projects are there to scratch the musical itch he might have at the moment. Maybe it’s an issue of pride and how hemmed-in the view of what AFI is ‘good’ at has become. Splinter them off into whatever stylistic hinterlands you want, but the core rubric of AFI is goth-flavoured punk and hardcore, defined in the late ‘90s and early 2000s and moulding what emo would become throughout that decade. And looking at a lot of the questionable names and affects spawned from that…yeah, having that as your bow’s most tautly-fastened string might feel like something to address in later life.

But when The Blood Album has proven a total wash since release in 2017 and its 2021 follow-up Bodies is only a few hairs better, it’s no wonder these reputational pivots have largely sputtered out. The good thing, however, is that lessons seem to have been learned and past fumbles have been heeded. So, with this thoroughly charmed third time—other than Havok’s inexplicable new vocation as a Frank Zappa cosplayer—it’s about as undeniably, undilutedly ‘goth’ as it comes. As in, you can clearly identify where The Cure, Bauhaus, Sisters Of Mercy and all manner of classic miserablists have laid their influence. And sure enough, it’s the best that AFI have sounded in at least a decade.

The key difference between Silver Bleeds The Black Sun… and its preceding efforts are made known almost immediately: confidence. Both The Blood Album and Bodies felt like half-measures stacked on half-measures; in contrast, Silver… begins with The Bird Of Prey, a desiccated mix that houses its hollowed drum patter and a fast-strummed acoustic guitar dressed in metallic clangs and knells. It sounds freshly exhumed, far from any degree of polish or finer finish that AFI are used to. But it’s also really good, to where the ‘fresh start’ idea leaps out and lands a country mile past what came before. There’s the cold, ramshackle feel that’s so critical to Blasphemy & Excess and Spear Of Truth, and toying with shades of The Cult on Behind The Clock emphasises some gnarlier edges and a profile that’s so reinvigorated. Plus, Holy Visions and the title drop launched from Havok’s diaphragm’s diaphragm is just…*chef’s kiss*.

From Ash Speck In A Green Eye, however, it’s almost like AFI are trying to reform themselves again, mid-reform. It’s still drilling as deep into a gothic aesthetic as they can, but now with a lot more post-punk in mind in tighter, bullet-precise forms. It creates a vibe of two tandem EPs grafted together in a way that’s too conspicuous to ignore, with a hard stopper between one dalliance in one part of the goth spectrum ends, and another in another (seemingly unrelated) part begins. To that end, maybe AFI even show their hand a bit here. In crafting their first proper step into fully-fledged wunderkinds, they don’t seem too fussed with breaking new ground or moulding anything in their own image. It’s more about rifling through a tropes and standards, and seeing how they can be arranged in a fitting form. It’s probably why Silver… is such a lean listen—when you’re playing with wholesale, firmly-established tropes, there’s no need for extraneous folds to get in the way.

But even when this side of Silver… is, by far, the less-interesting one, it’s also not bad. The weakest song is Voidward, I Bend Back, deemed as such for the rudimentary brittleness it has a hard time breaking from, but bits of sawing guitar and ghostly synth waves can still fill it out to a reasonable degree. A lot better, though, is when there’s a hard-to-ignore presence that AFI bring, like how Ash Speck In A Green Eye’s impression of The Cure is blatant but well-rounded enough to fill its allocated space. Elsewhere, A World Unmade carries the sterile darkwave atmosphere that—if Havok and Jade Puget’s Blaqk Audio is anything to go by—there’s a clear fondness for, in the wire-tight drums, guitar shimmers and bass that reverberates for miles.

The closest you’ll get to a curveball on Silver… is the closer NOONEUNDERGROUND, as the firmest nod to older AFI in more than just a titular reference to Decemberunderground. It’s almost gunning for a punk song in tempo and the siren-backed whirl of chaos that, really, nothing else on the album even brushes against. At the same time, though, it fits well on this album in particular; the right sonic cues and features are there (chiefly Hunter Burgan’s bass that thumps with fluidity and prominence). Perhaps it’s an open ending to Silver…, signposting how the foundations are built and what’s to come will find some more adventurous, AFI-in-aggregate steps taken. We can sure hope, but even if that’s not the case, more like this wouldn’t be anything to grumble at. At long last, AFI have found a jumping-point that doesn’t have them faceplant, shown with pride through clear acumen, knowledge and love of these goth-rock branches. Also importantly, it’s an album that others outside of AFI can find enjoyment in.

For fans of: Sisters Of Mercy, The Cure, The Cult

‘Silver Bleeds The Black Sun…’ by AFI is released on 3rd October on Run For Cover Records.

Words by Luke Nuttall