Me talking about AFI

AFI has released the first single from their new album. You can hear it here: AFI - "Miss Murder". It's... strange. Based on "Death of Seasons" from the previous album and the intro music on the website, I was expecting them to move into more electronic/industrial territory, but instead they sound like a vaguely gothic Green Day. "Miss Murder" is not a bad song per say; it's just nothing like what I would expect from AFI these days. While their style has definitely changed over the years, it's always been a process you could follow, where each album contained elements that hinted at where the next one would go. If the whole album is like this song, though, then it will be a major, unforeseen departure for them.

The people who complained in the past about "Days of the Phoenix" or "Girl's Not Grey" being too radio-friendly are probably going to go ballistic; on the other hand, those who have always described Davey Havok's voice as "whiny" or "screeching" will rejoice that it seems to have been toned down a bit. As for me... I'll reserve judgment until I hear the whole album, especially since I didn't really care for the first single released from their previous album either, but I loved the album as a whole.