AFI

This EP was released sometime after Shut Your Mouth... and before Black Sails.... The songs on this ablum are the hardest, most intense ditties I have heard AFI ever record. The EP is actually two original songs by the band followed by two covers.

"3-1/2" is the first track, and the first time I heard this song, I was taken aback; it was so different from anything before, after, or on this EP. It made me want to bob my head. I wanted to scream. Davey starts out talking low, and the listener has a premonition that he is about the explode, and with the single question "why?", the song takes off. It certainly lacks a melodic hook, but listen to this song when you need to release some energy, and you'll see why it's so beautiful. The next song, "Overexposure" is just as intense, but does not have that jumpy, head-bob beat that i like so much about "3-1/2". Both songs have the group choruses that make up AFI's style. Davey sounds like he's being restrained and screaming his throat bloody at many moments in these two songs. These songs hold their own, sounding like staccato bursts of fury vented between the burgeoning intensity of Shut Your Mouth... and the grandeur goth of Black Sails....

Now, the covers. I think AFI covers songs very well. Just listen to "Halloween" on the "All Hallows EP", or "The Hanging Garden" on this one. Adam certainly dominates the Cure's drummer on this one, and I love how AFI intensified the chorus by keeping the verse instrumentals mostly the same but coming in full blast as Davey sings "Fall, fall, fall, fall into the walls..." This is a great cover on its own, and even better seen live. The next cover was the Misfits' "Demonomania", a mediocre song in my opinion originally and as a cover. "Look upon me! I am the beast!" Davey declares promisingly, but then the song goes down. Danzig's voice seems more fitting for the style, but it's not a bad cover, just definitely not a good one in my opinion. If you appreciate AFI to any degree, check out these songs. The originals are essentials just for their rawness and intensity. Covers are always interesting, especially if you like the original artists. "The Hanging Garden" is high on the list of my favorite cover songs.