AFI: Decemberunderground (20th anniversary, clear smoke vinyl, indie exclusive) [INTERSCOPE]

Why you'll love it

This 20th anniversary pressing comes on clear smoke vinyl, an indie store exclusive. Decemberunderground debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and "Miss Murder" became the band's signature hit.

This edition

• 20th anniversary edition
• Clear smoke vinyl
• Indie exclusive
• Pressed in the Czech Republic
• Stereo mix

About the album

AFI wrote more than 120 songs for Decemberunderground and then picked the darkest, catchiest dozen. Davey Havok described the title as a time and a place, where the cold huddle together in darkness, which is about as AFI a sentence as anyone has ever said.

Jerry Finn produced at Conway Studios in Los Angeles, Jade Puget added programming and keyboards with help from Ronan Harris of VNV Nation, and the band folded synth-pop, new wave and gothic rock into their post-hardcore roots. "Miss Murder" is all handclaps and shout-along hooks, "Love Like Winter" glitters with cold synths, and "Kill Caustic" and "The Killing Lights" bring the heat.

Critics compared it to the Cure, Depeche Mode and the Smiths, and the band took "Miss Murder" to the MTV Movie Awards stage. Twenty years on it still sounds best in a dark room in December, though we're told June works too.

Also at Kops: more AFI on vinyl · browse Punk

Tracklist

Listen

On Interscope / Tiny Evil / UMe, a reissue of the 2006 album.