AFI - Answer That and Stay Fashionable (1995)

What if my idea of fashionable is a never-ending depression caused by crippling self-doubt that was induced by all of my past mistakes? Then I'll always be in fashion!! Ha-HAAAA!! I wish there was an end to my agony.

Coming straight outta California comes hardcore punk band AFI, which stands for A Fire Inside. A fire inside what? UR FUKN @$$ BECAUSE OF THESE SWEETASS BASS RIFFS, DAD!!! Any hardcore punk album that sounds (relatively) raw, but is also produced well enough to be able to audibly hear the bass gets a thumbs up from me. Seriously, the bassist, Geoff Kresge, steals the spotlight on some of these songs, with "Brownie Bottom Sundae" being one of them.

But a hardcore punk album that has relatively annoying vocals and monotonous songs gets a thumbs down from me, I'm torn. The vocals constantly sound like a lisp-heavy yell where vocalist Davey Havok simply cannot keep his top row of his teeth off of his tongue while pronouncing words! It oddly works for the music, with some songs, such as "Don't Make Me Ill" sounding like anthemic singalongs for the outcasts, and is surely a great deal of fun live, if they even play it live anymore.

"I Wanna Get a Mohawk (But Mom Won't Let Me Get One)" is a bit of a classic, with its lyrics being about vocalist Davey Havok's little brother not being able to be a punk like his older brother, stating "I may be in fourth grade, but I know what's going on. I listen to the Misfits almost every single day. Don't want to take a nap, I want a TV tat, but Mom won't let me so I might just disobey." in which you can change "Misfits" to "Beartooth" and "TV tat" to "iPad" safely and it applies to a good deal of teenagers today! God.. Back in my day it was Fall Out Boy and an Xbox 360. WHAT HAPPENED, AMERICA???

Sure, a hardcore punk album that doesn't necessarily get anything wrong, but doesn't really excel at anything.. It's fun and all, but aren't there some other hardcore punk bands you'd rather be listening to, like Dead Kennedys, 5 Seconds of Summer, or Bad Brains?

6/10
________________________________________________________
Feel free to check out the song previews/buy this album using my Amazon Associate link!