Secret Songs: AFI-The Spoken Word & This Time Imperfect

NEW TOPIC!!! This one will showcase all the hidden songs at the end of albums. You know the ones you had to wait 10-20 minutes for after the last song ended.

A.F.I.’s 2003 album Sing The Sorrow was quite a success. The album saw the band shift their sound even more from their once hardcore/horror punk roots. The end result though, despite many of the bands early fans not accepting the change, was an album that is pretty damn good. The album also featured two hidden tracks at the end.  After a brief silence at the end of “…Bit Home Is Nowhere”, piano music begins to play as guitarist Jade Puget’s younger brother Gibson speaks the first third of the poem. After the poem is concluded, the hidden track “This Time Imperfect” fades in, featuring a guitar playing backwards and extensive sampling. “This Time Imperfect” is a really cool song that contains a lot of the elements heard on Sing The Sorrow.

A.F.I.- The Spoken Word/This Time Imperfect:

 

Anticipated Albums of 2017

2016 was a great year for music. So many great albums were released. I’ve mentioned this before, but I really think that in ten years, 2016 will be looked back on as a great year for music.

So as 2017 is right around the corner, here are my most anticipated albums for the new year.
With Our Arms To The Sun- Orenda
AFI- AFI (The Blood Album)
Black Map- In Droves
Code Orange- Forever
Marilyn Manson- Say10
Mastodon
Wear Your Wounds
Stone Sour
The Black Queen?
Alice In Chains?
Soundgarden
Corrosion Of Conformity
A Perfect Circle?
Tool?
Royal Thunder
Royal Blood
The Cure?
Brand New?
Nothing More
Wild Throne
Incubus
Cold
L.A. Guns with Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns
Will Haven
Less Art
Cult Leader
Killer Be Killed?
He Whose Ox Is Gored
Spirit In The Room
Depeche Mode
Rammstein
Here Lies The Hero

Anticipated Albums: AFI- Self Titled (The Blood Album)

On January 20, 2017, AFI will release their 10th full length studio album. This self titled affair has been dubbed “The Blood Album,” and features 14 songs. The first two songs released “White Offerings” and “Snow Cats” sound like a cross between The Art of Drowning and Sing the Sorrow. So for those of you out there that have been waiting for the “rock” edge of AFI again, it looks like this is the album for you.

White Offerings:

 

Snow Cats:

 

Pre-Orders are available on AFI’s site now.

 

AFI- AFI (The Blood Album) Track Listing:

01 – “Dark Snow”
02 – “Still A Stranger”
03 – “Aurelia”
04 – “Hidden Knives”
05 – “Get Hurt”
06 – “Above The Bridge”
07 – “So Beneath You”
08 – “Snow Cats”
09 – “Dumb Kids”
10 – “Pink Eyes”
11 – “Feed From The Floor”
12 – “White Offerings”
13 – “She Speaks The Language”
14 – “The Wind That Carries Me Away”

Unsung Masterpieces: AFI- Sing The Sorrow

AFI is a band that has gone through a lot of changes stylistically throughout their career. They started out as a punk band with hardcore roots, then shifted more to the Horror punk side of things. As time went on and the band evolved they found a balance of their roots of punk and added a more goth element to their music. So in 2003, AFI released their most ambitious album up till that point, Sing The Sorrow. Their die hard fans were caught off guard by the departure of their original sound, while at the same time finding a new audience. Sing the Sorrow was produced by Butch Vig and Jerry Finn, allowing the album to be more experimental. Lyrically, the album is darker and more poetic than their previous material. I for one, when I first heard the album wasn’t really in to it at all. It just wasn’t the AFI I was a fan of. Fast forward a few years and I revisited the album and really grew to love it. There is something truly intriguing about it. The depth of the songwriting really took things to another level for the band with the use of synths, strings and the all around lyrical content. Songs like “The Leaving Song Pts. I & II,” “Bleed Black,” “Death Of Seasons,” “But Home Is Nowhere,” really show the maturity of the guys in the band. There are some songs that are a little more radio friendly like “Girls Not Grey,” “Silver and Cold,” and “Dancing Through Sunday,” but that doesn’t change the fact that the songs are really good.

This is one of those albums that with time you really come to love. There is something about Sing The Sorrow that really hits home. Sure the production on it is a little too slick and AFI has completely changed from what they once were, but the growth on this album is truly astounding. Give it another shot if you gave up on them.

AFI- Sing The Sorrow:

By: Brian Lacy

Cover Thursday: A.F.I. (The Cure)- Just Like Heaven

When Jade Puget joined the band, he had a hand in shifting the band from the more hardcore punk they were doing and injecting a more goth vibe to the music. Over the years you can totally hear Davey Havok’s love for The Cure in his voice and lyrics. They’ve been covering “Just Like Heaven” for years, and it’s great. It’s not too far from The Cure’s version but it’s still good!

 

By: Brian Lacy

 

2013 Albums Of The Year

Here is my list of the best albums of 2013

1. Nine Inch Nails- Hesitation Marks
2. Alice In Chains- The Devil Out Dinosaurs Here
3. How To Destroy Angels- Welcome Oblivion
4. AFI- Burials
5. Killswitch Engage- Disarm The Descent
6. Walking Papers- Walking Papers
7. Palms- Palms
8. Black Sabbath- 13
9. Pearl Jam- Lightning Bolt
10. Korn- The Paradigm Shift

11. Sevendust- Black Out The Sun
12. Stone Sour- House Of Gold And Bones Part II
13. Placebo- Loud Like Love
14. The National- Trouble Will Find Me
15. Queens Of The Stone Age- Like Clockwork
16. Ghost- Infestissumam
17. Philip H. Anselmo- Walk Through Exits Only
18. The Bronx- The Bronx IV
19. Russian Circles- Memorial
20. Carcass- Surgical Steel

Honorable Mention

21. Mutoid Man-Helium Head
22. BoySetsFire- While A Nation Sleeps
23. Misery Signals- Absent Light
24. Pelican- Forever Becoming
25. Rob Zombie- Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor