Sing the Sorrow
Starting life as the most competent Misfits tribute band to not actually playMisfitssongs, San Francisco Bay Area punks A.F.I. have not only discovered how to write their own snarling melodies, but have developed the confidence to play them without a cloak.Sing the Sorrowmarks the band’s first major-label release and the difference from their indie albums is in the details: songs freely shift gears and tempos, singer Davey Havoc flexes his pristine vocal abilities by breaking into the occasional falsetto, and sugary tracks like "The Leaving Song" and "The Great Disappointment" now take a place next to more standard nuclear-charged mosh-pit fare like "Bleed Black" and "Dancing Through Sunday." Longtime fans might take it like a kick to the head, but this band is clearly moving toward bigger things.--Aidin Vaziri