AFI have become one of those seminal bands; one of the acts you first think of for their type of music. The fact they’ve probably spawned an entire genre of third-rate goth wannabes is possibly not so forgiveable, but hey, Davey Havok and co are arguably one of the best live bands on the circuit and over the course of their career have penned a back catalogue most bands would kill for. My only criticism would be that AFI tend to be consistently inconsistent – as a reviewer, rather than a die-hard fan, I always find their albums are littered with tracks at both ends of the spectrum. They seem able to write absolute monster hits with ease, then chuck in a couple of barrell-scrapers for good measure. The AFI greatest hits (when it comes to a Christmas near you soon) will be a bone-shaking bag of good times, but I’m yet to hear one full album of theirs where I think ‘yeah, every song’s a winner’.
‘Crash Love’ doesn’t sway my opinion. In places this is excellent, in places this is a bit dreary. It’s as poppy and melodic as the band have ever been, which is a natural progression from their last few records and not really a surprise. If you’re a fan of the old stuff, and only the old stuff, don’t expect a Phoenix from the Flames style emergence, sorry. But look beyond that and into the realms of good music and you’ll find a record with plenty to offer. Sure, the production is shiny and thick, no expense spared, but AFI are a commercial band now. They’re chart botherers with videos over-played on MTV. ‘Crash Love’ fits that bill. While it takes on the same darker, lyrical twist as per usual, everything sounds that bit bigger this time round. ‘Medicate’, for instance, has the big hook and the crashing guitars but it sounds ‘bigger’ than ever before. The extra layers of instrumentation and the thought process that has gone behind it make a real difference.
‘It Was Mine’ and ‘Sacrilege’ are fellow standouts, tunes that have big sweeping musical backdrops full of grand ideas and executed to perfection. My problem is that some of the ideas are perhaps a little too grand and end up passing me by, just as they’ve done previously. Great songs pass and are followed up by one or two mediocre tunes. And it goes without saying that if you’ve never liked AFI this is not the record to change your mind. Still, the skinny is this – if you’ve enjoyed the last couple of AFI records then you’ll like this one too. It’s still slightly hit and miss, but the hits are exactly that – hits.