AFI — Crash Love

AFI - Crash Love

Interscope/Universal

Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

10/06/2009 3:49pm

AFI move even further away from their punk roots on Crash Love, their eighth studio album. Davey Havok and company's days of overt Danzig worship seem very far away when listening to the disc.

While albums like Sing The Sorrow and Decemberunderground saw the band beginning to make the transition away from all things dark, there were still punky and gothic things about them. But Crash Love virtually eliminates these elements, solidifying AFI firmly in the pop rock crowd.

Things aren't totally sunny, though. "Torch Song" is practically the only track on Crash Love that resembles anything AFI have done on their last two studio releases, and first single "Medicate" has practically no teeth. While AFI were never arguably punk in the true sense of the word, they used to at least have a "punky" attitude, but that's gone here and been swept aside for 12 tunes which miss the mark.

AFI have spent their entire career worshiping death in their songs, but Crash Love seems to have killed their "goth-punk" sound entirely.

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