As much as I hate to admit it, Anti-Flag is right: Davey Havok really did destroy the punk scene. Or at the very least, he didn't do anything constructive for it. What AFI does isn't real punk, but rather music that takes the traditional trappings of punk, adding a powerful dose of rock conventions and general emotion to the mix.

On the first few AFI albums, the closest they actually got to the idealistic social activism that punk traditionally represents was a few songs about mindless football players and parodies of "cereal wars". Here there's even less social context. In the tradition of various modern outfits who've been able to escape the unforgiving, harsh shadow of the political bands who started punk rock, "Black Sails In the Sunset" is a vitriolic, fiery record about topics having little to do with any specific societal concerns.

This album offers no political substance. It's simply a rip-roaring, dark record with lyrics that sound like they were written by Sylvia Plath, and haunting music to match the turbulence of the lyrics. The songs mostly sound the same: Davey Havok squeals the lyrics with all his might, over a fast-paced rush of noisy guitar and powerful drumming. The rest of the band often comes in for choruses, and offers split-second breaks in the otherwise-omnipresent music. Lyrically, it all focuses on explorations of loss and anguish; complex metaphors make these vague themes more interesting.

It kicks off with a dissonant guitar - then a pounding drum and throbbing bass enter the mix. It's frustratingly inconsistent, but that's the uniqueness of AFI - they want to avoid the comfortable punk-rawk sound. The music takes on a positively creepy tone as a chorus of zombies chants "through our bleeding we are one!"

Then comes "Porphyria", where Havok's voice takes on the tone we've grown to know and love. The next track, "Exsanguination", has an interesting break of almost tribalistic drumming and guitar. And "Malleus Maleficarum" is a cut above the other songs here, and perhaps the best song AFI has ever written; with interesting use of dynamics and tempo changes, it builds constantly toward the inevitable chorus: "we all begin to burn! / autumn's flame dances in my eyes / set alight for all we've learned / my ashes falling..."

Then comes the remarkable "Narrative of Soul Against Soul", which features some truly remarkable wordless yelling from Havok. The lyrics take the form of a letter addressed "to the wounded", discussing the pros and cons of suicide, and are full of defiant lines like "A permanent solution to a temporary problem. Before I'd lay me down to rest, I'd throw away everything to live."

"Clove Smoke Catharsis" has a curiously mellow sound, with a slow tempo and quiet acoustic guitars that quickly turn into electrified menace. I don't like Havok's singing so much here - when he uses clean vocals, he sounds conventionally melodramatic. "The Prayer Position", then, is a test of endurance, with the high-pitched guitar that begins it and the fast-paced riffage that continues throughout. But as always, the changes in sound keep it fascinating.

"No Poetic Device" continues along the lines of "Prayer Position", with breaks in the music and mixes of vocal styles. "The Last Kiss" takes on a narrative style in its lyrics, with lines like "I can't stop the insects that are feeding, pull the needles from beneath my skin." After some agitated playing and ranting of the lyrics from Havok, it suddenly breaks into a catchy rhythmic segment, and the pattern twists and contorts for the remainder of the song. "Weathered Tome" plays with dynamics of instruments, featuring some tense guitar fade-outs. "At a Glance", one of the album's longer songs, uses some clean vocals from Havok behind the ever-present electric guitar.

Then comes one of the band's more amazing songs, the signature "God Called In Sick Today". Beginning with a sorrowful acoustic guitar and hushed singing about "murderous filigree" and "the headstone crumbling", it soon turns into an anthemic rock song, the contrast between the different styles heightened by Havok's voice switching between the anguished screaming - "I can't help my laughter as she cries! My soul brings tears to angelic eyes!" - and the more relaxed, melancholy clean vocals. It's great stuff, and an indication of the band's capabilities. Unfortunately, the album closes with the rather anticlimactic "Midnight Sun"; the lyrics are okay, but the musical style does nothing for me.

This album stands on its own rather well, but viewed in the context of AFI's other work, it's a transition between the naive, underdeveloped earlier material of "Answer That and Stay Fashionable", into the dark, murky realms of their latest material and the popularity it's brought. Very little of "Black Sails In the Sunset" is radio-friendly - looking at pictures of the band, this is the only type of music I can imagine coming from that infinitely haunted-looking quartet.

Happily for AFI, but perhaps tragically for their listeners, it appears that they're on the verge of commercial success with their hit "Girls Not Grey". I can only hope that they continue to evolve musically. For AFI to create another album just like "Black Sails" would be a travesty, because they're one of the most talented and interesting groups in rock music today, and such talent needs to grow and evolve. Let's hope that they can give us another album as strong, powerful and beautiful as "Black Sails".

Recommended: Yes