By Ryan J Nims
AFI have had a lot of eras: starting out as a hardcore punk band, they moved into horror punk, goth-tinged emo, and now straight up goth. Silver Bleeds the Black Sun… was just released on Run For Cover Records, and as a fan of the band, I’m… well, I was initially not sure what to think about it. It’s very, VERY different from anything that has come before. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
AFI formed in 1991 as Asking For It before breaking up and coming back together as A Fire Inside. The core band members throughout their history have been singer Davey Havok, guitarist Jade Puget, bassist Hunter Burgan, and drummer Adam Carson. Beginning as a hardcore punk band, their breakout album was the horror-punk record The Art of Drowning (Nitro, 2000), though their first experiments with the genre came from the Misfits-inspired All Hallows E.P. (Nitro, 1999).
Mainstream recognition came when they signed with Dreamworks and released Sing the Sorrow (2003), which, along with their follow-up Decemberunderground (Interscope, 2006) cemented their place as the preeminent gothic emo band. They released a few more albums, keeping a similar style, until Silver Bleeds the Black Sun… (Run for Cover, 2025), in which the band fully embraced the post-punk and gothic sub-genres.
Musically, the album owes a lot to bands like Bauhaus and Sisters of Mercy: keyboard-heavy music, brooding instrumentals, and Havok’s vocals taking on a much lower register.
Opening track “The Bird of Prey” begins with pounding drums and acoustic guitars that are reminiscent of Ennio Morricone scores. The song is a slow burn, featuring synths in addition to sparse instrumentation.
“Behind the Clock” ramps up the energy with a more chaotic drum beat and some extremely low vocals from Havok.
“Holy Visions” is a standout track. The bass is thick, and the vocals are as close as one can get to Peter Murphy of Bauhaus. There are some lovely guitar tones throughout!
“Blasphemy and Excess” is bass and drum-heavy, with subtle synths creating a lush atmosphere.
“Spear of Truth” follows a similar gothic sound as earlier tracks, but “Ash Speck in a Green Eye” is a love letter to 80s synth pop!
“VOIDWARD, I BEND BACK” and “Marguerite” continue the synth pop sounds. The meaty bass lines are the star of the show on these two songs!
“A World Unmade” is very Gothic, opening with an organ part that would fit in the soundtrack to an old horror movie.
Album closer “Nooneunderground” is a return to form in some ways. It starts off slow but is the most punk song on the record. The bass hits hard, and Havok’s vocals are closer to what longtime listeners might be used to. Easily my favorite song on the collection.
Overall, this album is very different from what has come before it, and at first, I admit I didn’t quite get into it. But on repeated listening, the production is what makes the album great for me. The band’s performance is good, but the way it’s all put together makes for quite an enjoyable listen. It’s not going to be for everyone; longtime fans of AFI may be put off by the new sound, but overall, Silver Bleeds the Black Sun… is a good post-punk record, if kind of a sharp left-turn for the band.