AFI – Silver Bleeds The Black Sun

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Reinvention has its way of taking many different forms. A reinvention of style or a new choice of clothing can lead someone else to think a person we thought we knew is trying out new things. When it comes to music, AFI have never shied away from their own reinvention as they have gone from album to album in their storied career. Their newest record, Silver Bleeds The Black Sun, once again finds the four-piece band on the precipice of another moving reinvention as they move away from some of the post-punk and electronica-tinged rock of Bodies and perhaps even what was found on AFI (The Blood Album). Instead, this latest taste of music leans into AFI’s ability to captivate through a variety of stylistic choices made strategically at the right moments in time to achieve the greatest impact. Silver Bleeds The Black Sun feels a bit like the encapsulation of all the styles AFI have been known for over their 34+ year career, and goes big into arena rock moments paired with gothic sensibilities to remind The Despair Faction that this is still the same band they fell in love with and have seen evolve with grace. Just when you think that you’ve got a handle on what AFI is and the sound you expect to hear on subsequent releases, the band turns expectations on their head and finds unique ways to continue their unwavering evolution.

No AFI album would be complete with a picturesque, goth-tinged album opener, and “The Bird of Prey” largely delivers the goods here. It kicks off with a thunderous drum loop from Adam Carson, while lead singer Davey Havok bellows the poetry of, “Time unwinds the serpent / Time defines my face / Time unwinds, awakened / By a bird of prey.” AFI continues to impress on m moments like this that lean into their goth past, but with them being fully entrenched in being an artistic rock band first. My personal favorite in the set comes in the form of lead single, “Behind the Clock” that is dark and brooding, but features a shimmering arena rock chorus of, “Green light lit, the blue remake / No one will care, will care to see / Thriller killer been revealed / He’s inside you, she’s inside me / She’s inside me.” Between the pulsating bass line from Hunter Burgan and the wail of the guitar from Jade Puget, it’s almost impossible to deny the dynamic energy AFI have when they play music together. The song unfolds with cool, atmospheric elements with a song The Cure would be proud of knowing exists in the same timeline as them as well.

”Holy Visions” begins with another slick bass line from Hunter, while Davey continues to captivate over a spiraling riff from Jade, as Davey does his best David Bowie impression with his impressive vocal range. The song has no interest in being standard fodder from AFI, and instead it re-captures the imagination of AFI fans near and far with a track ready for the cool air of autumn. “Blasphemy and Excess” follows in the track listing with a bit of a curious choice of sounds to begin the song, as it features some a rare, clean guitar sound paired with brooding lyrics from Davey as he croons, “Here is blasphemy / In no excess / And here, here / Here is success.” The band rallies around Davey’s cryptic lyrics, and the track features a pretty cool guitar solo from Jade to round out the sound they went for here.

The front half of the record closes with “Spear of Truth” that takes a brief detour back to the sound the band leaned into on Burials, as Davey paints a grim picture in the second verse of, “Not here, not there / Black day, blank stare / Cold breath, slow death / Bright path to nowhere.” It’s easy to feel the despair in Davey’s vocal performance, and I identified with these feelings given the state of the world around us. “Ash Speck in a Green Eye” feels like a Bodies type of song, but it is delivered with a great sense of urgency here from AFI. The bridge of, “Ash speck in a green eye / One blink denies / Ash speck in a green eye / One tear defies,” is stunning lyricism, while some of the chorus breakdowns reminded me a bit of the stylistic choices made on The Missing Man EP. “Voidward, I Bend Back” stays in a similar lane, as Davey goes from a bellowing lower-toned voice to a shimmering wail with veteran ease. “I’m bending back into the void / My eyes staring up into black / Like a foreign film flickering with forked tongues” is a wet dream for the goth culture kids out there who still look to Davey for fashion choices.

”Marguerite” didn’t do much for me as a song, as it stays in a similar vein as the previous two tracks and doesn’t really cover much new ground here. The bridge of “Not for the shock / Death in our song / Turned you on” is well-crafted and remains a standout moment in the otherwise forgettable song. “A World Unmade” on the other hand, does a great job of distinguishing itself from the pack of songs with leaning in the macabre with an eerie organ opening that bleeds into a goth club anthem dripping with synths and brooding lyrics. Even simple lyrics like “The world has, the world has its plans / And I have another” are felt with thunderous force in the cool rhythm of these four musicians perfectly in sync with each other on songs like this.

The album closer of “Nooneunderground” also sways closer to the darker side of the sun, while AFI provides an eerie landscape of noises before Jade’s wailing guitar bleeds away for Hunter to lend a stellar bass line, all before Davey explodes into the void with “There’s no one on the streets / There’s no one in the home / There’s no one in your heart / There’s no one in the photo.” While AFI have historically ended their records with a sprawling ballad of some sorts, the punk rock energy found on this closer is undeniably warranted and it helps with evening out their overall attack on their twelfth studio album to date.

While Silver Bleeds the Black Sun may not get the critical acclaim of Sing the Sorrow and Decemberunderground, there’s plenty to love on this record that shows AFI have no sign of slowing down anytime soon. AFI are back to making goth anthems, and even if it’s not for the masses, I for one am here for it.

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