Sing The Sorrow: A Modern Classic

Have you ever put on a record that changed your life completely ?

I did, and it came out about six years ago - on March 11th,2003. I was in, I believe, middle school, middle of 7th grade when I saw this band on TV. I had never seen this music video before and wondered who the artist was. It was an AFI video and the song was called Girls Not Grey from their critically acclaimed Sing The Sorrow.

After watching the video, I just had to buy the record. As I sat in the car, In the parking lot of that very Circuit City where I bought the record mind you, I opened up the record case and peered down. Looking at the black record with amazement at just how plain it was. Boy was I sure in for a treat when I popped that bad boy into the stereo of the car and began what would become the first time listening to the very first record from my favorite band.

The first song was Miseria Cantare-The Beginning. From the opening sounds of static and drum beats, I realized this was going to be an amazing record, I listened on as the intro continued and soon heard shouts of "Love your hate, your faith lost, you are now one of us". I did not know then that each time after that, I would shout along with that intro and to every other song on the record. As the intro came to the middle point, lead singer Davey Havok started in and I knew that this was going to be an amazing record with a variety of songs.

After the intro had ended, I barely had any time to catch my breath then The Leaving Song Part 2 started. It was to become my favorite song by the band. With its group shouts and Spanish speaking parts and Davey Havok's long winded scream at the end, It was clear that this band was onto something amazing and that I was being taken along for the ride. As the songs kept going, Bleed Black into Silver And Cold and into Dancing Through Sunday, And so on and so forth, it became apparent to me that placement was such an important factor with this record. I had realized that no other record before that, for me, had sounded so perfect. Each and every song sounded in place and each and every group shout and chant was right on time.

It was time by this point, to re listen to the song that had gotten me into AFI in the first place - Girls Not Grey. I loved it on the record and in video form as well. Death Of Seasons, the song to follow Girls Not Grey, is one of the most energetic pop songs I think I have heard in a very long time and has a very amazing ending with Davey Havok closing out the sound with a kind of wounded animal type crying out of lyrics that were sung earlier.

The Great Disappointment is a very misleading title for the next song, As it is not a great disappointment but rather starts off as a slow ballad that turns into a full on rock and roll jam fest.

Paper Airplanes comes next and hits you like a ton of bricks, In fact the one-two punch of Paper Airplanes and the next song This Celluloid Dream, really seem to make that record. If I had to pick just two songs off the record to play back to back, It would be those.

The Leaving Song 1 is next and is a slower more ballad-y type of song which I have yet to hear the band perform live. But Home Is Nowhere is such an epic song to finish off such an epic album and it shows with Davey Havok almost building up all he has over the record and charging into a one-two minute isolated poetic breakdown that still gets me excited to this day.

All I will say to finish this review is, if you have heard AFI's newest record, Decemberunderground and have not heard this, stop what you are doing and go buy it as soon as possible. If you have heard their older hardcore stuff this may not be for you as it is a very big change from the past seven records or so they put out before this record, Regardless it is for me a perfect record, A amazing record which I am glad to say was my first taste of my favorite band.