A F I Art Of Drowning CD

8th Rel;San Francisco Hardcore

A.F.I.: Davey Havok (vocals): Jade Puget (guitar): Hunter (bass): Adam Carson (drums).
Recorded at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California.
Punk rawkers AFI exude another powerful disposition on their fifth album, The Art of Drowning. Issued on Dexter Holland's Nitro Records, AFI's quick and haughty, spiraling guitar riffs and crashing percussion make for another mishmash for single-fisted anthems for punk revivalists and enigmatic pop kids raging against the machine. Nothing short of Pennywise, D Generation, and Powerman 5000, AFI is rowdy with their old-school-inspired rants like "Ever and a Day" and "Of Greetings and Goodbyes." Frontman Davey Havok casts a rough demeanor, but certainly not anything intimidating because punk rock became friendly after the war of early-'90s grunge. The snarl and sweat are not as fashionable as it once was, but the attitude remains the same. ~ MacKenzie Wilson
"My whole life is a dark room" is the sentiment expressed by AFI on the appropriately titled "The Despair Factor," and there's no denying the uniformly bleak outlook of this young band. If they made music to match, this would be a rather dull ride, but they work the contrast nicely by backing their worrisome lyrics with explosion after sonic explosion of blistering punk.
AFI might be said to practice a variant of horrorcore, but not of the stylized, play-acting, Slipknot kind. Rather, the group comes off as a junior branch of the Misfits, mating the grim and the grisly with energetic, old-school punk bashing, and even a fairly conventional melodic sense. For those who think Halloween rock started with Marilyn Manson, THE ART OF DROWNING will provide a quick and infectious history lesson.

Spin (4/03, p.102) - "...DROWNING features bigger hooks, a more ornate sound, and shout-along choruses that dominate nearly every tune..."
Kerrang (Magazine) (p.52) - "A new level of dark meant a new level of success."