Decemberunderground

Untitled

decemberunderground is the seventh studio album from California rock band AFI, and their first album to debut at #1 on the US Billboard 200, selling 182,000 units in its first week. The album was released on May 29, 2006, in the United Kingdom (UK), June 6 2006, in the United States, and June 16, 2006, in Mexico. Regarding the album's title, lead singer Davey Havok said, "decemberunderground is a time and a place. It is where the cold can huddle together in darkness and isolation. " The two singles released so far are Miss Murder and Love Like Winter. Summer Shudder will be the next single, as confirmed by absolutepunk.net [2]

On November 7, 2006, the album was re-released on 6 "icy clear" 7" vinyl discs, with all four band members' pictures and "... a very special guest" being Smith Puget, the band's manager, and a poster/lyric sheet.

Track listing

1. "Prelude 12/21" – 1:34
2. "Kill Caustic" – 2:39
3. "Miss Murder" – 3:26
4. "Summer Shudder" – 3:06
5. "The Interview" – 4:16
6. "Love Like Winter" – 2:45
7. "Affliction" – 5:28
8. "The Missing Frame" – 4:40
9. "Kiss and Control" – 4:18
10. "The Killing Lights" – 4:04
11. "37mm" – 3:55
12. "Endlessly, She Said" – 4:28

UK bonus tracks

• "Rabbits Are Roadkill on Rt. 37" (UK & Australian Bonus Track) – 3:50
• "Head Like a Hole" (Nine Inch Nails Cover)(UK Bonus Track) – 4:43

File:AFI - Decemberunderground (7-inch).jpg

7-inch Vinyl Boxset

Non-CD bonus tracks

Pre-listening bonus track

• "Don't Change" (INXS Cover) – 3:16

iTunes pre-order bonus track

• "Jack the Ripper" (Morrissey Cover) – 2:47

iTunes bonus track

• "On the Arrow" – 3:07

Target bonus download track

• "Fallen Like the Sky" – 3:22

7" vinyl boxset

• "Fallen Like the Sky" - 3:22

7" picture disc B-Side

• "Don't Change" (INXS Cover) – 3:16

Release

The single, "Miss Murder", premiered on KROQ and LIVE 105 on April 13 2006. The full track list was announced on April 25 2006.

When fans preordered this CD at special pre-listening events, they received a CD including "Miss Murder" and "Don't Change". "Don't Change" is a cover of an INXS song.

According to a message posted on the official AFI message board and an email message sent to members of the AFI mailing list, lead singer Davey Havok said each album from the first pressing contains a "limited edition artwork" of a single portrait of one of the members of AFI, and that a rare few would include a portrait of the entire band.

Fan and critical responses

There has been some disagreement over the bands departure from hardcore and punk in the direction of a more synthpop and new wave oriented sound. For example, Rolling Stone awarded the album three stars out of five, a drop from the four-star album Sing the Sorrow. Rolling Stone said Decemberunderground feels like "something isn't right in the world of AFI" due to their turn towards a more pop-based musical structure "that would be at home on the soundtrack to the next Spider-Man movie". However, allmusic.com disagreed, saying the "core of AFI's sound never strays too far from what listeners have grown to love about them in the first place." This album earned four stars out of five from allmusic.com.

Production

• Producer: Jerry Finn
• Mixing Engineers: Jerry Finn and Chris Lord-Alge
• Recording Engineer: Joe McGrath
• Assistant Engineers: Seth Waldmann, Jason Gossman, Kevin Mills, Eric Weaver, Dimitar Krnjaic, and Keith Armstrong
• Drum Technician: Mike Fasano
• Programming and Keyboards: Jade Puget, Hunter Burgan, Ronan Harris, and Dave McCracken
• Recorded at Conway Recording Studios and Sage & Sound Recording Studios
• Mixed at Conway Recording Studios and Resonate Music
• Mastered at Sterling Sound, NYC by Ten Jensen
• A&R: Luke Wood
• Art Direction & Design: Morning Breath Inc.
• Illustration: Alan Forbes
• Photography: James Minchin

Miscellanea

• If the track "Prelude 12/21" is rewound past 00:00 (to -00:20), then a hidden introduction to the track can be found.

• Track 7's full name is "Affliction and Then I'll be Home". This is because the two songs "Affliction" and "Then I'll be Home" share the 7th track of the album. "Affliction" ends at 3:37 and, after a brief silence, "Then I'll be Home" begins playing. Before the album's release, leaked advance copies had "Affliction" play for 3:37, then play the next track, "The Missing Frame". "Then I'll Be Home" was the thirteenth track, following "Endlessly, She Said", and was at the time an untitled outro.

• The video to Miss Murder was re-released in a Director's Cut version, which included "Prelude 12/21" and footage of Miss Murder drawing, folding, and placing in her mouth, the piece of paper which Davey takes from his own mouth and unfolds, revealing the three Decemberunderground rabbits in their circular formation.

• #3 Australia, ARIA Chart

• #2 UK, Top Rock Albums

Guests

• Nick 13 of Tiger Army
• Members of Throwdown
• Members of Day Of Contempt
• Members of Eighteen Visions
• Members of Bleeding Through
• Ronan Harris of VNV Nation
• Members of The Despair Faction
• Dan Under of The Dear and Departed

External links

• AFI's Official Site
• Lead singer Davey Havok's track-by-track guide to the album, originally published in Kerrang!
• AFI's Official MySpace.
• The Complete AFI Series
• The Art of Drowning (Fansite)