Sing The Sorrow

Ambience. Boom. An Echo. Ambience. Boom. Echo. Boom. Echo. Boom. Echo. Synth Tune Kicks In. Boom, Drums, chanting, bells chime and the gothic plea cries out ‘Nothing From Nowhere I’m No One At All, Radiate, Recognise one silent call as we all form one dark flame… INCINERATE. Love your hate, your faith lost. You are now one of us’.
And thus goes the opening to the most under publicised, most deserving, most amazing album of the year which spans 1 hour 3 minutes and 39 seconds. This band is by no means the kindest on the ear. Davey’s voice is hugely powerful, but slightly whiny and perhaps a little too hardcore at times for some, but certainly with the variety of uses to which he puts his voice, speaking, singing, screaming, whispering, there is a little something for everyone, except maybe people who refuse to appreciate anything that isn’t in the top ten, most of which is only there because it is manufactured rubbish which is promoted simply by the money pumped into them, the positive press etc. This is a fact which Davey himself points out in the quote which tops this page. AFI are a band who have spent over a decade on the underground circuit, getting whatever they get solely from the sheer quality of their music (although their earlier stuff isn’t so accessible until you really get into the AFI sound, which is displayed in every form on this album. You have new styles showing through with the electronica/techno breakdown of ‘Death Of Seasons’, or the moody number that is ‘Silver And Cold’, while still remaining faithful with tracks like ‘Bleed Black’ with chord transitions that’d knock your grandma dead. The lyrics are another powerful strong point of the album. The tenth track is so packed with metaphors such as ‘All the colours upon leaving will turn to grey’ suggesting that no matter how hard one tries to differ and be an individual, or be a colour, we all end up dead, or a shade of grey, and thus it may not be worth quite what you think to be ‘different’ from the crowd. A little bit of blending can be a good thing. In fact this particular metaphor leads very nicely to the following track ‘the leaving song’, a story of a man who has gone out of his way, and been labelled and ostracised for it. Something that many people can relate to at some stage in their lives. The song goes as follows, accompanied by a single acoustic guitar:

Walked away, heard them say
"Poison hearts will never change, walk away again"
Turned away in disgrace
Felt the chill upon my face cooling from within

It's hard to notice gleaming from the sky
When you're staring at the cracks
It's hard to notice what is passing by with eyes lowered

You... walked away, heard them say
"Poisoned hearts will never change, walk away again"

All the cracks will lead right to me
And all the cracks will crawl right through me
All the cracks, they lead right to me
And all the cracks will crawl right through me, and I fell apart

As I... walked away, heard them say

"Poisoned hearts will never change"
Walked away again
Turned away in disgrace
Felt the chill upon my face cooling from within

This is a song, which is both downbeat but beautiful, slow yet catchy. Once again not for the narrow-minded mainstreamers, but definitely an amazing song.

The final track on the album ‘…but home is nowhere’, which is a good note to end it on, if a little disappointing in comparison to the rest of the album (but is improved on fantastically by the hidden 10 minute bonus track ‘this Time Imperfect’). However if you are lucky enough to live in the UK you find yourself with two more tracks, ‘Synthesthesia’ and ‘Now The World’. Both of which once again raise the standard of modern music even higher. In fact, everything about this album raises the standards. It is very much a certain type of music and not for everyone to adore, but it is an album which a hater of guitar music can listen to and say ‘Well that wasn’t as bad as a thought’. Clearly, this is an album that deserves to be in many more HI-FI’s shelves than it has been on since it’s release in March 2003, and if you’ve never heard these guys before, you will not be disappointed, even for having to part with £15, in fact, I truly believe that it is the best £15 I have ever spent. In fact, I would have gladly paid more. I would have traded every other CD I own just to sing the sorrows along with Davey, Jade, Hunter and Adam. Lost, confused, bored even? Buy this Album.