For more than three decades, AFI has been in a nearly constant state ofreinvention. The band have made it a point to evolve with every album—sometimes dramatically so—never allowing themselves to become toocomfortable in one genre or rest on any of their impressive career laurels.It’s an approach that has grown their audience but also challenged it witha sonic identity that can shift in wild, unexpected directions. Now with theirtwelfth album, Silver Bleeds the Black Sun…, AFI are once again at thestart of a bold new chapter, only this time they’ve even managed to surprisethemselves.How does a band that’s known for creative upheaval still find ways to pushthemselves out of their comfort zones? Typically the group would start analbum by immediately throwing themselves into writing and simply lettingtheir intuitive musical shorthand guide the process, but for Silver Bleedsthe Black Sun… AFI set out to purposely change their creative approach alltogether. This time it started with a conversation: how could they break newground?The key to moving forward actually ended up coming from AFI’s collectivepast. “We started with something that sounded like Echo & the Bunnymen,”explains guitarist Jade Puget, who produced and engineered the album.“But eventually we ended up with this melange of death rock and post-punk—all this stuff from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s that we grew up on,like Sisters of Mercy, and Bauhaus, and Siouxsie and the Banshees.” Thegoal became making an album with a singular mood, something dreamyand ethereal, and the band members found themselves diving headfirst intoinfluences that had always been deeply embedded in AFI’s musical core,but now were being brought to the forefront.Silver Bleeds the Black Sun… is dark and otherworldly, but also grandioseand stately, biting and beautiful in equal measure—in other words, it’s veryAFI, yet not quite like any version of the band you’ve ever heard before. Track List: 1. The Bird of Prey2. Behind the Clock3. Holy Visions4. Blasphemy & Excess5. Spear of Truth6, Ash Speck in a Green Eye7. VOIDWARD, I BEND BACK8. Marguerite9. A World Unmade10.Nooneunderground Street Date 10/3/25
