AFI Album: “Crash Love [Deluxe Edition] [2 CDs]”

Crash Love is another step in the ever evolving AFI sound. From a musical standpoint, this album is great. Jade continues to be an amazing guitarist/musician. The guitar layering, solos and rhythm give this cd a very full melodic sound. Davey's vocals are strong and powerful (sorry, no screaming in this one kids). The bass lines and drums pull everything together giving it that special AFI sound.

From a song standpoint, the lyrics are (as you would expect from AFI) amazing. Davey continues to provide words which paint a vivid picture in your mind throughout each song. The songs themselves range from fist pumping, to heart string pulling. There is really a wide range of experiences with each song.

Bottom Line

*If you like Sing The Sorrow, and December Underground you will most likely enjoy this album.

*This is Rock, not punk. (I don't mean that in a negative light, I mean from a musical perspective)

*If you want hard, fast, punch you in the face punk rock, you will probably be disappointed.

Additional Note:

The cd doesn't do these songs justice in my opinion. I saw them perform many of these live recently, and the power from a live show really makes these songs stand out.

I've only been listening to AFI for about three years, but I've gone back and picked up the old stuff. Now, even though I'm new to AFI, I'm certainly no newcomer to rock music. I've noticed something pretty unique about AFI fans though... they are the most name-dropping, nit-picking, tight-wound bunch of music consumers in the game. Some other bands' fans are that way sometimes, but AFI fans, WHOA! Seriously, try an experiment. Scan all the other reviews for this album and the previous two, and see how many reviews you find that DON'T (1) rank AFI's whole catalog, (2) directly compare each song on this album with a "counterpart" song on another, and (3) try and justify the similarities or lack thereof with either selling out or maturing.

Hey AFI fans: GIVE IT A REST.

What kind of service are you offering the band with this kind of behavior? If I were a member of AFI, I'd be a basket case after reading a page of Amazon reviews. The guys have made the clearest statement you could ask for, and they've made it repeatedly: "Every album they make is different than the others." Why is that so hard? If you hate this album, just keep spinning your preferred album and stop poisoning the well for everybody else.

Crash Love is, without any comparison to another album, a very good listen. I was lukewarm to it on my first pass, but after a few more times the intricacies began to show, and I could appreciate how each song is finely crafted and carefully detailed. Each track is strong, and there's a wide variety of moods and energies. Any fan of rock music can find plenty to enjoy here.

If you're a stranger to AFI and you're put off by the schizophrenic rambling in these reviews, just ignore them and listen to the album without all the baggage. I promise you can like AFI and not have to engage in all this.

Hey everybody you all seem to have forgotten that this album was for the fans that won the contest to sing with AFI on Crash Love.I must admit it was a little different hearing backup vocals on an AfI song, it took me some time to get used to it.While I dont think it compares to December Underground AFI,s best album it still not bad but I miss Davey screaming. There are a couple of pop songs on the cd that i dont like much but the rest of the cd is pretty good. My best advise is to listen to it at least 5 times with the volume turned up it worked for me!!

Crash Love is a very good album, it's pure AFI for sure. However, the polish it gains makes it drift away from Sing the Sorrow. Take the difference between Sing the Sorrow and Decemberunderground, and apply it to Decemberunderground to get an idea about how Crash Love sounds!

I'll cut straight to the point. Based soley on their previous albums this is something else entirely. Many times I thought I was listening to a bunch of 80's bands, such as Echo & the Bunnymen, or The Church, there seemed to be some Psychodellic Furs in there too.. It has this sort of progressive rock pop sound that is well honed and brilliantly crafted. I think it's what they wanted though, and we as fans know that they'll probably never recreate their old sound again, it would be pointless for them as artists.. So if you crave old AFI, just pop in the old albums and I guarentee you that they will light you up again. I know I gave it a 'meh' score, but in all honestly I find the album completely addictive and catchy. I love most of the tracks here, and I'm glad to see them constantly redefining themselves.. It's just not their best work overall.. I mean it feels very cohesive and it's like they finally made a solid rock pop album, and left out their electronic influences. Arguably Veronica Sawyer Smokes is the catchiest song on the album, it would fit nicely on a Robert Smith album. Bottom line here is an album that will show all it's cards years from now, either it'll keep on giving or else it'll be forgotten, lost and broken.