AFI - Burials Album Review: All 13 Tracks Analyzed

3. A Deep Slow Panic €“ The band increases the tempo for the first time on the album with, "A Deep Slow Panic." The song starts with a watery guitar effect and impressively manipulates atmospheres explored on past albums into a sound that is fresh and creative. "A Deep Slow Panic" is the rare occurrence of a veteran band presenting music late in its career that announces itself as a career highlight upon first listen. The song showcases the highest level of songwriting expertise on the album and features an excellent, memorable chorus containing the lyrics, "Slowly, it's consuming me / deliberate and deep / I can't take this deeper panic / teach me / teach me not to dream / dream deeply." Havok further enhances the chorus with a delayed cadence, delivering the lyrics with a pause before the first word of each line, creating a variation that serves the song greatly. The song also contains a few classic whoa-ohs and a short guitar figure reminiscent of the band's malevolent sounding musical past, showing fans that the band is not disowning its underground past for its mainstream present. Some fans may be turned off by the retro, arena rock sound of the song, but the rest should recognize "A Deep Slow Panic" as not only an album highlight but as a career highlight. 4. No Resurrection €“ Track four, "No Resurrection," is part two of a brilliant three song stretch on Burials and shines the spotlight on the complex guitar compositions of Jade Puget. The verses are highlighted by a lengthy, twisting guitar riff and the masterful building and deconstruction of the complex musical construct. The song begins with a short drum intro, after which the bass enters. After a few seconds, the guitar enters and begins playing the primary verse riff. After one complete cycle of the riff, a second guitar enters playing an interlacing line, creating the complete musical construct. Once Havok's vocals begin, both guitars drop out leaving only drums and bass supporting the vocals. After another couple of measures, the guitar re-enters playing a new line, bent notes swaying with the rhythm of the song. The first guitar riff returns after four more measures and hits even harder than before because of the sequence that preceded it. The song is also greatly benefited by Havok once again altering his vocal delivery. The singer holds each vocal note for an extended period on certain accented syllables and skips through others quickly with a clipped, staccato rhythm. 5. 17 Crimes €“ AFI returns to the galloping speed and passionate urgency of their past on song five, "17 Crimes." The song acts as an ode to the wild immediacy of youth, with lyrics such as, "And as we won't grow old / we'll leave no heart unbroken / Tomorrow cannot be like this / and even though it is such a sin / they will / tomorrow they will take us in." With these lyrics, Havok captures the essence of the live in the moment abandon of adolescence. With "17 Crimes," AFI shows that the punk fire (inside) still burns bright. The song ends on a high note with a short outro section of galloping drums and voice.