It’s a morning of surprises for AFI fans, beginning with today’s release of new track “Get Dark,” which can be heard below!
The second surprise is that “Get Dark” is the first track from a special EP titled The Missing Man (VIA Ex Noctem Nacimur), which was produced and mixed by AFI guitarist Jade Puget and is slated for a December 7threlease.
“Get Dark” is available as an instant download by clicking HERE to pre-order The Missing Man.
“Thanks to the unexpected continuation of The Blood Tour, we found ourselves inspired to begin writing,” says AFI lead vocalist Davey Havok. “It was during this process that The Missing Man was found.”
About “Get Dark,” Havok says, “From the initial performance and recording, it had a driving sense of forward movement and penetrating connection. The song’s themes of deification and deference, self-loathing and vanity, captivation and release, damage and healing, are posed in a subtle invitation to those inherently compelled to accept.”
About the production, Puget says, “I was aiming for something a little raw for ‘Get Dark.’ In fact, I used most of the vocal takes from the very first time Davey sang it, as well as some of my guitar parts from when we were writing it. The song is built on the sparseness and simplicity of the verse drum groove and guitar riff that opens up into this big anthemic chorus. For the EP, the same idea of a certain rawness was really important to the overall vibe. I feel like it’s easy to turn out a slick, polished set of songs, but to walk that fine line between studio creation and live sound can be difficult. It’s been an intense labor of love and we can’t wait for everyone to hear it.”
The Missing Man follows last year’s AFI (The Blood Album), which hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative and Hard Rock Albums Charts and No. 5 on The Billboard 200. It was the band’s second consecutive Top 10 Billboard debut following 2013’s Burials.
Alternative Press and Q gave AFI (The Blood Album) 4 stars each, AV Club said it sounded like the band are “as fired up now as they were 25 years ago,” People magazine made it a Pick of the Week, Kerrang called it a “serious contender” for the Best Albums of 2017 list, The 405 praised it as “their strongest album in a decade” and ABC News gave it 3.5 stars and described it as “a dynamic record that should please both old and new fans of the band.”
Since the release of 1995’s debut album Answer That and Stay Fashionable, AFI has written and recorded five top ten hit singles (“Miss Murder,” “Medicate,” “Love Like Winter,” “Silver and Gold,” “Girl’s Not Grey”), hit No. 1 on The Billboard 200 (with the stunning Decemberunderground), garnered worldwide critical acclaim and amassed a fiercely loyal global following whose members number in the millions.