Very Proud Of Ya
Morton | Colorado | 07/10/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"AFI-Very Proud Of Ya *****
It's kind of like really great sex. Very fast and powerful and ends just like it began, on top, and in the end your left with a feeling of satisfaction, well that's Very Proud Of Ya by AFI. Very Proud Of Ya is the bands first album on Nitro records as well as one of the best. Havocs fantastic vocals mixed with the Misfit influenced guitar and rhythm section makes for one mean punk album. Now keep in mind this isn't your little sisters AFI, this is good straight up hardcore-old fashioned punk rock at its most pure and best.
`He Who Laughs Last' `File 13' `Soap Box Derby' `Theory Of Revolution' and `Consult My Lover' are all excellent examples of what AFI started out as, a hardcore punk band. On Very Proud Of Ya this are the five songs that to most stand out the most. `Consult My Lover' might as well be changed to Very Proud Of You and made the title track. The chorus on this track alone is worth the perches of the album, easily Davy Havocs best vocal performance on the album by far.
Songs like `Crop Tub' `Cult Status' `Take The Test' and `Fishbowl' while they aren't as good as the before mentioned songs and while they don't stand out as much they are still very good very solid songs, its these songs that hold the album together in between the classics.
To review Very Proud Of Ya by AFI and not mention `Perfect Fit' would just simply put not do the album justice. It is to AFI what `Devilock' was to the Misfits. It's that rare classic that was mixed in with the shuffle and over looked by many but is truly on of the very best things the band has ever recorded. The guitar alone is some of the best they ever played and Havocs lyrics and vocal delivery is among his career best.
It's a shame AFI refuses to play their older music such as the material on this album and really anything before Sing The Sorrow, as if the music is inferior to the new when in reality it's by far superior and is what made the band what they are today. So while AFI may have forgotten their roots you don't have too so this is highly recommended to anyone who is reading this."