Decemberunderground

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Decemberunderground
Decemberunderground cover
Studio album by AFI
Released UK May 29, 2006
Australia June 3, 2006
U.S. June 6, 2006
Mexico June 16, 2006
Recorded Conway Studios, Los Angeles
Genre Alternative Rock
Length 44:44 (45:06 With Hidden Track)
Label Interscope
Producer(s) Jerry Finn
Professional reviews
AFI chronology
Sing the Sorrow
(2003)		 Decemberunderground
(2006)


Decemberunderground is the seventh studio album from California rock band AFI, and their first album to debut at #1 on the US Billboard 200, selling 182,000 units in its first week. [1] The album was released on May 29, 2006, in the United Kingdom (UK), June 6, 2006, in the United States, and June 16, 2006, in Mexico. Regarding the album's title, lead singer Davey Havok said, "Decemberunderground is a time and a place. It is where the cold can huddle together in darkness and isolation. "[2] The two singles released so far are Miss Murder and Love Like Winter. The Missing Frame will be the next single, as confirmed by the band themselves.

On November 7, 2006, the album was re-released on 6 "icy clear" 7" vinyl discs, with all four band members' pictures and "... a very special guest" being Smith Puget, the band's manager, and a poster/lyric sheet.[3]

Contents

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Prelude 12/21" – 1:34
  2. "Kill Caustic" – 2:39
  3. "Miss Murder" – 3:26
  4. "Summer Shudder" – 3:06
  5. "The Interview" – 4:16
  6. "Love Like Winter" – 2:45
  7. "Affliction" – 5:28
  8. "The Missing Frame" – 4:40
  9. "Kiss and Control" – 4:18
  10. "The Killing Lights" – 4:04
  11. "37mm" – 3:55
  12. "Endlessly, She Said" – 4:28

UK bonus tracks

7-inch Vinyl Boxset
7-inch Vinyl Boxset

[edit] Non-CD bonus tracks

Pre-listening bonus track

  • "Don't Change" (INXS Cover) – 3:16

iTunes pre-order bonus track

iTunes bonus track

  • "On the Arrow" – 3:07

Target bonus download track

  • "Fallen Like the Sky" – 3:22

7" vinyl boxset

  • "Fallen Like the Sky" - 3:22

7" picture disc B-Side

  • "Don't Change" (INXS Cover) – 3:16

[edit] Release

The single, "Miss Murder", was supposed to have premiered on KROQ and LIVE 105 on April 13, 2006, but due to the fact that the thirty second clip that KROQ aired on April 11, those who tuned in on their radios and online across the globe got to hear it early. The full track list was announced on April 25, 2006.[5]

When fans preordered this CD at special pre-listening events, they received a CD including "Miss Murder" and "Don't Change". "Don't Change" is a cover of an INXS song.

According to a message posted on the official AFI message board and an email message sent to members of the AFI mailing list, lead singer Davey Havok said each album from the first pressing contains a "limited edition artwork" of a single portrait of one of the members of AFI, and that a rare few would include a portrait of the entire band.[6]

[edit] Fan and critical responses

There has been some disagreement over the bands departure from hardcore and hardcore punk in the direction of a more synthpop and new wave oriented sound. This album has alot more techno, and industrial elements, which are evident in the songs "37mm" and "Summer Shudder". For example, Rolling Stone awarded the album three stars out of five, a drop from the four-star album Sing the Sorrow. Rolling Stone said Decemberunderground feels like "something isn't right in the world of AFI" due to their turn towards a more pop-based musical structure "that would be at home on the soundtrack to the next Spider-Man movie".[7] However, allmusic.com disagreed, saying the "core of AFI's sound never strays too far from what listeners have grown to love about them in the first place." This album earned four stars out of five from allmusic.com.[8]

[edit] Production

  • Producer: Jerry Finn
  • Mixing Engineers: Jerry Finn and Chris Lord-Alge
  • Recording Engineer: Joe McGrath
  • Assistant Engineers: Seth Waldmann, Jason Gossman, Kevin Mills, Eric Weaver, Dimitar Krnjaic, and Keith Armstrong
  • Drum Technician: Mike Fasano
  • Programming and Keyboards: Jade Puget, Hunter Burgan, Ronan Harris, and Dave McCracken
  • Recorded at Conway Recording Studios and Sage & Sound Recording Studios
  • Mixed at Conway Recording Studios and Resonate Music
  • Mastered at Sterling Sound, NYC by Ten Jensen
  • A&R: Luke Wood
  • Art Direction & Design: Morning Breath Inc.
  • Illustration: Alan Forbes
  • Photography: James Minchin

[edit] Miscellanea

  • If the track "Prelude 12/21" is rewound past 00:00 (to -00:20), then a hidden introduction to the track can be found.[9]
  • Track 7's full name is "Affliction and Then I'll be Home". This is because the two songs "Affliction" and "Then I'll be Home" share the 7th track of the album. "Affliction" ends at 3:37 and, after a brief silence, "Then I'll be Home" begins playing. Before the album's release, leaked advance copies had "Affliction" play for 3:37, then play the next track, "The Missing Frame". "Then I'll Be Home" was the thirteenth track, following "Endlessly, She Said", and was at the time an untitled outro.
  • The video to Miss Murder was re-released in a Director's Cut version, which included "Prelude 12/21" and footage of Miss Murder drawing, folding, and placing in her mouth, the piece of paper which Davey takes from his own mouth and unfolds, revealing the three Decemberunderground rabbits in their circular formation.[9]

[edit] Guests

[edit] References

  1. ^ "AFI Burns Brightly With No. 1 Debut", 2006-06-14.
  2. ^ AFI Official Biography. AFI Official Website. Retrieved on May 27, 2006.
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ http://afireinside.net/news/default.aspx?dt=05-01-2006
  5. ^ AFI Reveals Track Listing. Aversion.com Music News. Retrieved on May 27, 2006.
  6. ^ http://www.afireinside.net/news/default.aspx/nid/1989
  7. ^ Strauss, Neil (2006). Rolling Stone : Decemberunderground : Review (HTML). Rolling Stone. Retrieved on June 17, 2006.
  8. ^ Apar, Corey (2006). allmusic ((( Decemberunderground > Review ))): (HTML). allmusic.com. Retrieved on June 17, 2006.
  9. ^ a b Yahoo Music Entry. Retrieved on November 5, 2006.
  10. ^ http://www.ariacharts.com.au/pages/charts_display.asp?chart=1A50
  11. ^ Top 40 Rock Albums. BBC Radio 1 Charts. Retrieved on June 19, 2006.

[edit] External links

AFI
Davey Havok | Jade Puget | Hunter Burgan | Adam Carson
Mark Stopholese | Vic Chalker | Geoff Kresge
Discography
Albums and EPs: Dork | Behind the Times | Eddie Picnic's All Wet | This Is Berkeley, Not West Bay | AFI/Heckle Split | Bombing the Bay | Fly in the Ointment | Answer That and Stay Fashionable | Very Proud of Ya | Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes | A Fire Inside EP | Black Sails in the Sunset | Black Sails EP | All Hallow's EP | The Art of Drowning |The Days of the Phoenix EP | 336 | Sing the Sorrow | Decemberunderground
Singles: He Who Laughs Last | Third Season | Totalimmortal | The Days of the Phoenix | Girl's Not Grey | The Leaving Song Pt. 2 | Silver and Cold | Miss Murder | Love Like Winter | The Missing Frame
DVDs: Clandestine | I Heard a Voice
Related articles
Tiger Army | Despair Faction | Horrorpops | Loose Change | Dexter Holland | Nitro Records | Redemption 87 | Son Of Sam | Blaqk Audio
Categories: AFI | AFI Songs | AFI Albums
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Preceded by
Taking the Long Way by Dixie Chicks		 Billboard 200 Number 1 Album
June 24, 2006 - June 30, 2006		 Succeeded by
The Big Bang by Busta Rhymes
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