AFI - Burials Album Review: All 13 Tracks Analyzed

rating: 4.5

The album art for Burials, the ninth album from California rock band AFI, features what appears to be a total solar eclipse. The image of nearly all light from the sun being blocked out is a fitting one for a band that has crafted numerous albums of jet black punk and rock music over the past eighteen years. Released in October 2013, Burials is the band's first new music in four years and continues that tradition of fiery, dark rock while also exploring dense new musical textures for singer Davey Havok to deliver his distinct, expressive vocals over. All thirteen songs of AFI's ninth album, Burials, will be analyzed in this review. 1. The Sinking Night €“ Before the music begins, longtime fans know that no AFI album is complete without a stirring introduction song. After skipping the opening chant and diving directly into the album on 2009's Crash Love, the band returns to the tradition of old in riveting fashion with, "The Sinking Night." The song begins with echoing drums and ringing guitar harmonics before vocalist Davey Havok enters, quietly singing the lyrics, "Blackness drips down from both of my hands / the gold in my palm was mistaken for sand / can you feel it?" Havok's vocals slither smoothly along with each word, his voice resonating richly each time the melody dips into the lower register of his range. The song blazes with restrained fury and halfway through Havok increases the intensity level, bellowing his lines with vigor, but the band never rages with full force. By the end of the song, the listener can sense that the members are holding back excess energy that will be utilized later in the album. It is a very strong opening to a collection of songs that seem specifically designed to engulf even the most massive stadiums with sound. 2. I Hope You Suffer €“ Song two, "I Hope You Suffer," picks up directly where "The Sinking Night" stops, continuing with a nearly identical drum rhythm but building a distinctly different musical texture underneath Havok's vocals. That texture is a densely layered combination of synth strings, piano and two lines of percussion. These elements, together with Havok's vocals produce a sense of grand theatricality that AFI's music has hinted at and been drawn ever closer to on the band's last three albums, but has never reached until this point. The band enhances the mood of large scale spectacle when the chorus kicks in with a wall of roaring rock guitar and Havok's snarling howl. Despite the huge sound of the song, the band is able to make the complexly layered verses feel intimate, allowing each listener to experience a feeling of inclusion into the community of the band and their fans. Unfortunately, the song suffers slightly from a case of too many chorus repeats, which has a detrimental effect on the song, with the listener having heard the same short part repeated six times by the end of the third chorus.