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AFI - Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes Audio CD

A fair review of the AFI "Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all AFI reviews here, or go back to the AFI tabs.

AFI Band: AFI
Title: Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes
Rating:
Release Date: 1997-11-11
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Keeping Out of Direct Sunlight 2: Three Reasons 3: Single Second 4: ph Low 5: Let It Be Broke 6: Third Season 7: Lower Your Head and Take It in the Body 8: Coin Return 9: New Patron Saints and Angels 10: Three Seconds Notice 11: Salt for Your Wounds 12: Today's Lesson 13: Devil Loves You 14: Triple Zero

The BEST AFI album
Although Black Sails is good, it can't hold a candle to this one. I have to admit, Black Sails was the first AFI album I bought, but this was the 2nd. This is one of the high points of late-90's hardcore (along with, I would say, No For An Answer's You Laugh E. P. ). The songs are very well written, well played, aggressive without being cartoonish, and well produced without sounding commercial. It's hard to imagine that less than a decade later they would be playing "Hungry Like a Wolf"-esque songs.


horror-core at its finest
they perfectly capture the harcore punk sound with a hint of horror punk. this album is in my point of view the best early afi album. My favorite track "coin return" has a psychobilly sounding riff thats blends perfectly with daveys screaming vocals. other great tracks are "three seasons", "let it be broke"(the most agressive afi song ever) and the intro awesome. this album is what i call horror-core, too bad such a good band turned so emo and horrible now. whoooooa.


Brutal!
Instead of fun skateboard punk, which they perfected in their 2nd album ANSWER THAT AND STAY FASHIONABLE, AFI switched gears and made their music much harder and more serious. This album, AFI's 3rd, marked a huge change in the band's direction. SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND OPEN YOUR EYES rages, roars and rocks like no other AFI album -- Davey Havok screams half the lyrics, giving the songs more impact, and the music is simply brutal. The songs lack the soft, melodramatic goth parts common in the band's subsequent albums, making the hardcore music in SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND OPEN YOUR EYES even more relentless. The subsequent AFI albums have more breadth and are more radio-friendly, but none can match SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND OPEN YOUR EYES for its visceral punch. One of the great punk albums.


Decent for it's genre
I liked Sing The Sorrow, Art of Drowning, and a few tunes off Decemberunderground. I'm not too familiar with AFI's earlier stuff, the pre-Black Sails stuff. I realize they're fallen into a repetitive, radio-friendly, generic songs trap, but they have a way with melody that made many of their recent tunes awesome, despite being somewhat formulaic. My first impression, as the first track kicked in was this shares the sense of melody and songwriting proficiency with their recent work, but has an extra bit of fire fueling it, and is left a bit unpolished. With the first few tracks you can tell not all of them are going to sound the same, which is great, especially in this genre. It's worth listening to if you like any of AFI's other stuff, but it wont blow anyone's mind.


Afi's Harshest and Least Polished Work; Rage
That's right ALL.
Let me let you in on a little secret; all AFI is good. Another secret; AFI is my favorite band of all time. Why? I'll show you.

'We are the Ones with the radiating eyes. We are the Ones who have a fire inside. We are the Ones only we can recognize. We've been rejected. . . '

. . . and that's the opening for this album, which is AFI's third. It's their harshest, angriest, meanest effort to date, and I don't think they will ever go back to this.

The sound? Fast and aggressive. The lyrics? Fast and pissed off! At one point, Davey's voice audibly cracks with the sheer rage-driven emotion that can't be found on any other AFI. Black_Sails_In_The_Sunset comes close, but it's better in other ways.

'Do you understand what I'm trying to say? Have you ever felt? Ever felt this way? Tainted with rage that you can't drain away or it will cost you your life. '. . .

. . . and that's the essesnce of this album. Davey Havok's lyrics are always poetic, unlike any other punk rock band anywhere, but here they trade in some of the band's later elloquence for sheer rage, and the result is an excellent, if slightly unpolished, representation of what the band has to offer.

So, if you like hardcore punk-rock, this is your AFI album.

And as for you who say AFI is not hardcore enough for you, go listen to harder music. If Slayer's Reign_In_Blood don't do it for you, try Converge's You_Fail_Me, or some Pig_Destroyer. But don't down a good band because they're not your kind of music.

For people who can appreciate AFI, and not just hardcore music, see also AFI-Black_Sails_In_The_Sunset, and AFI-The_Art_Of_Drowning. You won't be dissapointed.

PS For people new to AFI, I recommend starting at the middle with The_Art_Of_Drowning.


You can see a complete list of all AFI discography, or go back to the AFI tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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