CD Review: AFI "Decemberunderground"

After years of struggling through the Bay Area punk scene opposite bands like Green Day and Rancid, AFI approached rock stardom with 2003's Sing the Sorrow. The disc had several hits, but none was bigger than "Girl's Not Grey" a crafty bit of arena rock that seperated the band from the past decade of its dreary existence. Now, eye-liner wearing frontman Davey Havok and his band are back with Decemberunderground the catchiest piece of goth-emo-rock this side of My Chemical Romance -- with whom they share more than just a love of black or pink nail polish.

While MCR is more in-your-face, AFI has gone the opposite route, and indulge themselves with songs that are obviously inspired by The Cure. The one notable exception to this rule is lead single, and soon-to-be arena rock anthem "Miss Murder." Nothing has sounded more immediate or better this year. The track starts out with a baseline hi-jacked from Green Day's "Longview" and it doesn't let up, complete with a chorus shout of "Hey's" in the background, lending the song a creepy sing-along quality. A "Hollaback Girl" for the goth crowd, if you will.

It would have been nice if AFI (A Fire Inside) could have completely abandonded their punk roots. Instead, they feel obligated to lay down two throw-away tracks that may or may not appease their more "hardcore" fans, with "Kill Caustic" and "Affliction" being the offenders.

Thankfully, the rest of the album is sickeningly sweet -- at least by AFI standards. "The Killing Lights" is the other highlight alongside "Miss Murder," with its drama-drenched lyrics and a bridge of "Am I beautiful...Am I usable?" which bleeds into another breathless chorus. In other places, "The Interview" is a down-in-the-dumps ballad that will doubtless get the lighters out at their shows this summer, and the beautiful "Summer Shudder" and "Live Like Winter," are both Cure inspired mid-tempo rockers.

"Hardcore" fans will bitch and moan that the band has left its punk-roots, the rest of us will be happy we finally have some rock music to listen to that doesn't sound like Three Days Grace.

The Verdict: ***