Credit: Jiro SchneiderAFI's new album, AFI (The Blood Album), drops today. Given its title, you can expect a lot of blood imagery on the record, which was a theme frontman Davey Havok stumbled into.
"When we were writing the record and I was writing the lyrics, about midway through, I recognized that there was a recurrence of the word 'blood' in the lyrics," Havok tells ABC Radio. "I started to note that, and it was something that I wasn't purposefully doing. And I brought it up to [guitarist] Jade [Puget], and I said that it was something that we should maybe be aware of, and that perhaps later it would be something that we could use to carry the aesthetic through the record."
That blood imagery, though, is contrasted with similarly frequent imagery of snow, which pops up in the singles "Snow Cats" and "White Offerings." While the two tracks have differing sonic styles, Havok feels that they have a strong lyrical relationship.
"['Snow Cats'] is more cinematic and anthemic and melodic, and ['White Offerings'] is more direct and visceral," he explains. "But, thematically, they tie together in that they're speaking of longings for connection."
The Blood Album is AFI's 10th full-length studio effort, which is a milestone that means a lot to Havok.
"Having 10 records is so many," he laughs. "Not a lot of bands release that much music, and, furthermore, release that much music and have anyone care about it, so I'm very grateful that we've manged to stay a band for 25 years and to still be able to put out music, and have people interested in it 10 records in."
AFI is celebrating the release of The Blood Album by launching their tour tonight in Los Angeles.
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