A.F.I.

East Bay Hardcore Unity
by: ben

Liberating the underground punk scene in 1993 with their extremely audacious style of punk rock, A.F.I. has taken no prisoners in becoming one of the best loved punk bands around. With Nitro Records, home to such legends The Vandals and early Offspring, standing behind them they've grown quite a following.

'Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes' sees AFI welcome future band member Jade Puget as a backing vocalist for the album. He would go on to become a permanent member of the band, making this the first AFI album the band current members collaborated in.

The following includes Tim Armstrong from mainstream punk band, Rancid, who produced their record Answer That and Stay Fashionable only two years early, and had A.F.I. open for them on their ...And Out Comes The Wolves tour. It's surprising to me that they haven't moved onto bigger greater things.

The latest record, Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes is no exception to how energic and chaotic this band is. The melodies on such tracks "Third Season" and "The New Patron Saints And Angels" shows that they are growing up from their previous screaming and yelling to fast punk guitars. "Third Season" is reminiscent of old Misfits and Cramps songs with the use of the ever so "oi-oi" popular Whoa-oh chant, and also by the style of New Jersey vocals Davey gives us. The record also however contains many fast hardcore songs that shock most people at how established A.F.I. has become in their few short years as a band.

If you want to hear a good non-pop punk album, which is hard to find these days, A.F.I. will certainly give you that opportunity.