Crash Love- AFI sheds the shell of everything they were to write a classic album

When artists create an album or a song it is a reflection of what the writer is feeling and often influenced by their own current musical tastes. AFI's eigth full length album "Crash love" is no exception to this. The band has not hidden their current love of pop music and on "Crash Love" it shines through. AFI has always been a band centered on the idea of constantly evolving, this is evident from every album to the next. However, now that AFI has been releasing full length albums for 14 years the broader picture is one of a complete musical change. The four founding members came from the bay area punk scene, though you'd never know now. In fact lead singer Davey havok is more likely to listen to Imogen Heap now instead of The Misfits. Image and music wise AFI resembles almost nothing of who they were in 1995. Through all the years though, there is two common threads through out their long careers; their ability to deliver great music, no matter what genre you call it, and the support of their devoted fanbase.
The new album is a surprising change and almost stunning to hear at first take. Although it seemed innevitable, I for one never thought Davey Havok would completely abandon his scream that has been adorned by AFI fans throughout all the years. Though Davey still keeps some of his classic rasp on some of the tracks like, for instance "sacrilege", it certainly isnt the Davey of old. All in all "sacrilege" is the most classic AFI song on the album and one of my favorites. You will be hard pressed to find a more biased AFI fan than myself but to be honest after my first listen to "Crash love" I told friends that I liked 2 or 3 tracks at most. But being the die hard fan I am, and understanding that this happens with every new release from this band I decided to listen again and find what I liked. And, as bold as this seems, I say that Crash Love is by far the best AFI album to come out. It's definantly a pop record for rock kids, but they haven't lost their edge completely. Many fans were upset when Jade gave up his crunchy, full sounding riffs on 2006's December Underground, but Crash Love is Jade's triumphant return. While a few tracks still rely on an atmospheric sound ie. "Okay I feel better Now" and "Darling I want to Destroy you", the album as a whole bridges together the sound of Sing the Sorrow and December Underground. Jade returns with heavy riffs and dominant lead parts evident in the first single "medicate".When talking about "Crash Love" Davey said in interviews that they did not set out to write a timeless record but he feels they truly did, and I could not agree more.

Stand Out Tracks

1. Beautiful Theives
2. Medicate (first Single)
3. Okay I feel better now (Softer but a great slow song)
4. I am trying to be here (Daveys Dictator voice, with march beats, a Manson-esque song from the Anti-Christ Superstar Days)
5. Sacrilege (A sure favorite of old AFI Fans)
6. It was mine (One of the softest songs in AFI history, almost sounds like Chris Issack's Wicked Game, but the best pop song AFI has ever written.

Should've been left on the cutting floor

1. Veronica Sawyer Smokes (Almost unlistenable)