SUPER LIMITED EDITION 'RECORD STORE DAY ESSENTIAL' IMPORT BLACK & RED PINWHEEL SPLATTER 2LP VINYL GATEFOLD RE-ISSUE
Release Date: 20th October 2023
"AFI's landmark album - back in print in very limited supply to the UK. Contains all time mascara-stained emo classic Girl's Not Grey. Sing the Sorrow was their DreamWorks debut, and wasn't the wholesale departure from AFI's roots that some longtime fans griped about. It was merely the next step on a path that began with 1999's Black Sails in Sunset, the first album to feature guitarist Jade Puget. Assuming the role of principal songwriter, Puget wrapped vocalist Davey Havok's gothic tendencies in songs that put a finer point on the aggressive hardcore of AFI's earlier material, and massaged hooks from a morass of crashing rhythm, punk rock riffs, and Havok's opaque lyrics. The backing of DreamWorks meant that AFI could now hire major-league production to tweak what Puget had started. Vig and Finn kept the band's nucleus of pummelling California hardcore but stretched the songs lengthwise to incorporate greater lyrical introspection for Havok and even more attention to melody than on previous efforts. Oscillating between churning verses and intersecting solos and riffs, "The Great Disappointment" is like junior-varsity Fugazi, while the heroic emo chord changes of "This Celluloid Dream" transform Havok's preening wail into a sensitive croon, and single "Girls Not Grey" is a car-radio singalong of pure genius. It's true that the anthemic backing vocal choruses of material like "Girls Not Grey" and "Bleed Black" make the songs more pop than hardcore or even Havok's beloved goth. "
