So, Crash Love. Being released this coming Tuesday! God, I don’t think I’ve had this strong an emotional reaction to an album since I bought Station To Station at the beginning of the summer (and before that, Innuendo a couple of years back). Honestly, this album makes me want to burst into tears. I’m going to be honest. I’ve drifted from AFI over the years, but I keep coming back. The connection I felt to Decemberunderground and Sing The Sorrow is long gone, outgrown, and recently I’ve been listening to Shut Your Mouth And Open Your Eyes. I’m someone who often says, “The Art of Drowning saved my life.” I’m now saying that Crash Love is some of their finest work to date. Lyrically, Davey expresses his opinions on the society (like it or not) he has become a part of with poetic honesty. Hunter and Adam are as good as ever, Jade has definitely been practising—he’s playing within his means. Davey is the one who truly shines, though. Until now, he has always been the most loved, but weakest member of the band. His vocals have improved dramatically. He’s singing in his range these days, and it seems that he’s finally found his voice. It’s beautiful. Every time I listen, I find something new I love. I guess I’m lucky in that I’ve matured in the same way the guys have. Crash Love is nowhere near what I expected, or even wanted from AFI. But, somehow, it’s exactly what I needed from them at this point in my life. This album is going to break into the mainstream even more than Decemberunderground did, but these guys have been working hard at this for 18 years and with this album, they truly deserve it.
Track Listing
1. Torch Song – 10/10. This song is the epic track of all epicness. The opening guitar on this made my jaw drop, literally.
2. Beautiful Thieves – 8/10. I hated this song at first, but recently I can’t stop listening to it. It’s catchy and dark. The chorus has been stuck in my head since the album started streaming on Myspace.
3. End Transmission – 10/10. Easily the best track on the album. This song reminded me why I love AFI. While I’m convinced it’s about blow jobs while driving, it’s put so beautifully that I can’t get over it. I cried the first time I heard this song.
4. Too Shy To Scream – 4/10. It’s a catchy song, but that’s all it is. Nothing about this grabbed me, and its place following End Transmission does nothing to show its own merits.
5. Veronica Sawyer Smokes – 7/10. This was probably the biggest disappointment of the album. Everyone was so excited about it, and it’s a fantastic song, but it sounds like it could have been written by The Cure or The Smiths. There’s nothing in it that makes it uniquely AFI. But there’s an awesome guitar solo in it which makes up for that.
6. Okay, I Feel Better Now – 9/10. I’m having a hard time writing about this without the lyrics in front of me, but the closest comparison I can find is The Interview in Decemberunderground. This is the track that should have followed End Transmission. It’s wasted where it is. I guess it just spoke to my state of mind.
7. Medicate – 7/10. It’s a good single. That’s all I have to say. The too-abrupt transition to the bridge still bothers me as much as it did the first day. What was Jade thinking?
8. I Am Trying Very Hard To Be Here – 7/10. It’s catchy, and it says some much-needed things, but musically it reminds me far too much of Miss Murder. It’d make a good single.
9. Sacrilege – 9/10. A slap in the face. Woke me up after the previous two tracks. Honestly, I’m surprised more people aren’t upset about the lyrical content of this song. It brutally tears apart Christianity. A lot of people have called it the follow up to 2000’s Smile. I agree. Oh, and GUITAR SOLO.
10. Darling, I Want To Destroy You – 6/10. I really hate the use of a vocoder here. If it weren’t for the guitar, I’d give it a 3/10. The vocoder bothers me that much. However, this track includes some of Jade’s most complex and lyrical guitar work. So I can’t hate it because it reminds me why I love him so much. He knows his limits and takes his abilities and creates art.
11. Cold Hands – 9/10. The lyrics here cause me pain. Is that really what Davey thinks we think of him? It’s a lovely song, though. I haven’t listened to it enough to say much more.
12. It Was Mine – 10/10. This track is nothing short of haunting. It starts, then builds in tension until it crescendos in a soaring bridge and then trails off as a fantastic closer to the album. Everything went right on this, though the “choir” backing vocals take a few listens to get used to.
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Anyway, enough about the AFI album. I know you’re just dying to hear about my life. Fenced in an unclassified mixed tournament on Friday night. Went 4 and 2 in my pool (expected) and came in 8th in the entire tournament (unexpected). I got a by for the first round of DEs, then fenced a guy who really intimidated me at first, but then I realised he only had one attack which was a really long flick to your shoulder. Easy to parry-riposte. Won that one. My second DE, I wasn’t so lucky. Michal had been strip coaching me throughout the tournament, but I was too tired to get anything done, so I gave away 6 touches at the end and lost 15-9. When I went to sign the score sheet, my hand was shaking so badly that I could barely hold a pen. Could have won that bout. Didn’t. Got home around 11. I am now exhausted (still) and sore everywhere. Need to get in better shape. Er, that’s about it. Add the usual bitching and whining about life to the end of that. This post is getting far too long.