This week’s Track Of The Week is gonna focus on a recent single by goth punk legends AFI, “I Hope You Suffer”.
After a lengthy hiatus since their last release (4 years to be exact) AFI have come back with a smash and with a track that’s reminiscent of the earlier gothic tones the band used to be known for and the synth they started to incorporate during 2006’s ‘Decemberunderground’.
Since the release of 2009’s ‘Crash Love’ and subsequent touring, lasting till around 2010, the band have been quite, like super quiet. To the point that many were starting to think that AFI had called it a day.
In this gap Davey Havok (lead singer) took to Broadway, taking the lead role in the worldwide musical hit ‘American Idiot’, along with actually appearing in a number of small movies on the big screen also. To go along with these theatrical roles Davey also released his first novel (in what is rumoured to be a planned trilogy) earlier this year, ‘Pop Kids’, to what has been great success so far.
The thing you can probably notice is neither of these successes are in the music realm, in fact the only real music-based thing any member has done in this 4 year gap was the Blaqk Audio release from last year, ‘Bright Black Heaven’, which features both Davey and Jade (guitarist). Fans of this band will know that this is nothing like AFI however, Blaqk Audio are more akin to the synth-pop/New Wave of the 80’s; so fans of AFI’s punky sonics and gothic lyrics may not be totally on-board with this alternative band.
This bout of silence came to an end on the 17th of April, when a mysterious viral video was unveiled which showed a lone Davey Havok walking through a corridor to the haunting sounds of a distorted voice reciting a bible passage. The video ends with him reuniting with the band in a small rehearsal space and appearing to get ready to scream his lungs out.
This got people talking, excited and wondering; this video was darker and the background track obviously confirmed this, what were we to expect on the new record? For months different, more mysterious videos were uploaded to the AFI official site, getting people’s appetite wetter with each one but also confirming this theory of a darker AFI, and on the 18th of July the title track of new album ‘Burials’ (released September 22nd) was released.
“I Hope You Suffer” is a song that’s wrapped in dark glamour, the lyrics, the sound, even the music video shows a Davey Havok that looks as gothically glam as maybe he has ever looked. The track seems to take its cue from the earlier material lyric-wise, with the sound being something different, sounding like a darker version of ‘Decemberunderground’ with its crisp sounding synths and yells of Havok.
Another noticeable thing about this song is the yells that come from Davey, something that was absent from the majority of ‘Crash Love’ he brings them back for the chorus’ on this song, and they add so much depth and feeling to this song and what’s being said. You also remember just why AFI got big in the first place, when Davey yells/screams; he’s one of the best.
One other thing that really hits me and is something I personally love in songs is this small instrumental at the end of the song. It’s nothing major, just a short piano and xylophone song-closer but at least to me it makes the song seem so much more, it makes it feel like an epic happening and again adds more to the song.
To return after a hiatus of 4 years is gonna be tough for a band, so you have to make sure that the song that they return with is a hit; a showcase of what to expect as well as holding a sense of what the fans loved years back. With “I Hope You Suffer” AFI have done this, it pulls in the gothic tones of their days as a hardcore band and keeps a hold, and even strengthens their grip on the use of sharp synth layers. If the rest of Octobers ‘Burials’ keeps this trend going, and by the sounds of “17 Crimes” it very well may, this album could be exactly what the fans want and maybe just a little bit more.
Below is a link to buy "I Hope You Suffer" which will be released October 22nd on 'Burials', which will be available on iTunes as well as pretty much ever other place that sells music. Keep an eye on the AFI website for pre-order bundles for the album too.
If anyone is interested in taking the reigns for next week or any week, hit me up on the Facebook page.
No comments:
Post a Comment