Blaqk Audio
CexCells

THE REVIEW

Recently I've been on an electronic trip, so great was my joy when I discovered a couple of weeks ago that my beloved AFI (one of the best hardcore punk bands with gothic influences of recent times, at least until the last mediocre "Crash Love" of 2009) were not entirely defunct, as I began to think after three years of absolute silence, but that the equally talented and slightly less masculine singer Davey Havok and the flamboyant and bleached guitarist Jade Pudgett had in the meantime formed a parallel electronic music project called Blaqk Audio.

The genre proposed by the duo is a sort of dance-techno with a sprinkle of ambient, nothing transcendently innovative but very enjoyable and divinely produced. The tracks are played exclusively with synths, keyboards, and drum machines by good Padgett, who proves to be as comfortable with these new instruments as he was with his trusty guitar; above all, the splendid voice of Havok rises, which, although distant from the splendid versatility in the scream-melodic alternation that characterized him up to "Decemberunderground," still manages to amaze.

The overall atmosphere is more similar to the recent "Crash Love" than to the past glories of "The Art of Drowning" and "Sing the Sorrow," but the album is far from despicable, with a very layered and hyper-produced electronic sound.

The best episodes are the fourth track "Bitter for Sweet" (fantastic Padgett) and the concluding ballad "Wake Up, Open the Door and Escape to the Sea," where once again Havok's voice takes the lead.

Nothing miraculous, but it's certainly worth a listen.