Chris DeLine

What a difference a decade can make. A Fire Inside initially formed in 1991, but disbanded shortly thereafter as core members enrolled in separate colleges. Over the next few years the band would reunite and record their first two full-length albums, but by 1998—which saw the release of both A Fire Inside EP and Black Sails in the Sunset—the original lineup had all but turned over, with the exception of vocalist Davey Havok. It was during this year, and over the course of those two albums, that the band’s sound shifted away from its East Bay hardcore beginnings and toward a darker, gothic punk; this is where the modern version of the band began. In the following years AFI would release their first album to chart on the Billboard 200, The Art of Drowning, and would go on to sign with Dreamworks for their 2003 release, Sing the Sorrow. Sorrow remains the band’s most commercially successful release and has gone on to reach platinum status in the U.S. The shift from the brainchild of some high school punks who couldn’t play their instruments to one of the biggest underground success stories of the past 10 years is something that dreams are made of. Again—what a difference a decade can make. AFI is touring in support of their new album, Crash Love, and will be joined by the Gallows. All ages.

[This critics’ pick was originally published by City Pages.]