AFI

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AFI is a band whose career is sharply divided into two phases: its pre-2000 years as a sometimes goofy but always passionate underground Bay Area punk band, and its post-2000 years as a hugely successful, mascara-tinted stadium punk act. Fans sometimes force other fans to choose one era as a loyalty litmus test, but AFI was actually at its best in the transitional period between these two epochs, which is the window of time covered by this eponymous compilation. In this era, the band was still charged by hardcore but hadn't yet taken on the glossier sounds of modern rock radio. “Days of the Phoenix,” “Totalimmortal,” “Fall Children," and “God Called in Sick” show the band at the top of its game, and should appeal to fans of its early and later work alike. The end of the collection reaches back further, touching on the band’s early pop-punk credentials with songs like “I Wanna Get a Mohawk (But Mom Won’t Let Me).” And diehard followers should rejoice at the inclusion of rare songs like the brilliant “Winter’s Tale” (formerly available only in the U.K.) and “Lower It,” a vinyl-only cut from <i>Black Sails in the Sunset</i>.

via Apple Music