A.F.I.
Sing The Sorrow

THE REVIEW

I've always liked punk deep down.
I first heard the voice of a certain Rotten tearing through my little radio speakers when I was eleven years old.

Lately, however, and my ID card testifies that eleven years have passed since then, this musical genre seemed decidedly saturated to me. Too many rebellious kids, guitars in hand, trying to pedantically and uninspiredly reclaim the lessons of the Ramones.
Not A.F.I (A Fire Inside).

These guys, whose previous works were released by the Nitro label (in the hands of a certain Bryan "Dexter" Holland), have always stood apart from the aforementioned trend through an enchanting blend of typically melodic rhythms in the classic Californian punk tradition filtered through a distinctly gothic-decadent taste.
The move to a major label seems to have further accentuated this originality of theirs, which was in any case always present potentially in past productions.

In "Sing the Sorrow," the typical fervor of post-hardcore (the comparison with the Deftones is perhaps the most useful to convey the idea) perfectly melds with purely punk cues in a reinterpretation that makes of an exaggerated emotionality and a completely sincere expressive ability an indisputable strength.

The maturity reached by the combo is evident and is especially perceivable in terms of the complexity of the tracks (which still retain their immediacy and tremendously engaging feel) and the expressive abilities of the frontman, truly giving goosebumps in some passages.

This is the album that could revive the fortunes of a genre, punk-hardcore, too often afflicted by overwhelming artistic and stylistic intransigence. And I hope someone notices.