AFI Isn't Lighting Fires, It's Extinguishing Them

AFI's latest, Decemberunderground, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's album chart. But unless you're into hard-core punk, you've likely never heard of this group, whose acronymic moniker stands for A Fire Inside. The Bay Area band's arrival atop the charts, however, signals that its season of semi-obscurity is coming to a close (as does a recent high-profile performance on MTV's 2006 Movie Awards).

AFI is led by Davey Havok, whose piercing tenor animates the dark lyrics of his band's songs. Since 1991, Havok and Co. have released seven albums. During that time, their sound has evolved from pure punk (characterized by Havok's screaming and frenetic, Green Day-esque guitars) into a sophisticated pop-punk hybrid. The addition of electronic effects and industrial loops has resulted in a sound that echoes bands such as The Killers, My Chemical Romance, Alkaline Trio and ... The Cure.

What hasn't changed is AFI's unhealthy interest in death. There's a reason AFI's fan club is called the Despair Faction. Macabre lyrics exude a gothic vibe, and they wouldn't feel out place as the soundtrack to a vampire movie. Rolling Stone said of AFI's music, "Some call it goth-core, which AFI has encouraged by embracing Halloween, pancake makeup and lyrics about drinking blood." Havok says of the new album, "Decemberundergound is a time and a place. It is where the cold can huddle together in darkness and isolation. It is a community of those detached and disillusioned who flee to love, like winter, in the recesses below the rest of the world."

Romancing the Reaper
Darkness and detachment definitely play supporting roles on Decemberunderground. But top billing goes to death, as all 12 songs allude to it. Six tracks exalt suicide, which Havok romanticizes as a beautiful choice.

The catchy chorus of the album's first single, "Miss Murder," sounds like a mash-up of Depeche Mode and Marilyn Manson as it asks, "Hey Miss Murder can I/Make beauty stay if I/Take my life." That link between beauty and death reappears later: "Oh how they all adored him/Beauty will last/When spiraled down."

"Summer Shudder" proclaims, "Gorgeous eyes shine suicide/When will we be invisible?" Similarly, Havok and his companions raise a glass to killing themselves on "Affliction": "All my friends and I/Toast health and suicide." The specter of self-destruction hovers over the singer when he asks, "Were you holding hands when/My wrists bled?" Havok insists, "The future's bright without me." This morbid track ends with the demise of his beloved ("So stay sweetly numb/Remain lifeless, love").

In keeping with the album's gothic atmosphere, vampire-like imagery blends sex and violence on two tracks. The chorus of "Love Like Winter" proclaims, "It's in the blood, it's in the blood/I met my love before he was born/He wanted love/I taste of blood/He bit my lip, and drank my war." Likewise, "Kiss and Control" finds Havok asking a lover, "Part your lips a bit more. ... I will show you how/All the bite marks impressed." Bondage and suicide also turn up on this track.

Infatuated With Darkness
A few lyrics on Decemberunderground hint at positive convictions. On "Kill Caustic," Havok sings, "Your designer drugs don't work for me." It's well known that Havok and guitarist Jade Puget are straight edge, meaning they abstain from alcohol and drugs. Given that, this lyric could be an anti-drug statement. Similarly, "The Killing Lights" comments on the emptiness of the party lifestyle. "Miss Murder" acknowledges that the band is "ever searching for what we were promised," trying in vain to fill an inner void. Finally, "37mm" may refer to Christ: "Bring your secrets to me/Just give me your hand/And I'll let you feel the wounds they put in me/... If you keep killing me/How can I keep absolving/Your sins into me?"

It's an not an understatement, however, to say that such moments are utterly swept away by the album's deluge of death. I deeply understand that life can be hard, forcing us to the point of despair. But I believe every life has tremendous value, so I find AFI's glorification of suicide deeply disturbing. It's one thing to say that you don't have any hope and you're not sure how you're going to make it through another day. It's quite another to romanticize taking your life as a beautiful solution.

AFI's members seem to be in love with the idea of killing themselves. Worse, they're preaching it as a gospel message to be embraced—a message some listeners may tragically take to heart. When combined with infectious songwriting—the kind you find yourself singing unconsciously—the death-infatuated songs on Decemberunderground are among the most troubling I've heard recently.