 The earliest hints of AFI's move in a more diverse, mature direction appeared on their third album and first to feature current bassist Hunter (ex-the Force), Shut Your Mouth And Open Your Eyes (Nitro, 1997) and the subsequent A Fire Inside EP (Adeline, 1998). It would be one more year, however, before the present AFI lineup would click with the addition of Jade Puget (ex-Redemption 87) and the release of fourth album Black Sails In The Sunset and the All Hallows EP (both Nitro, 1999). Another year later, The Art Of Drowning (Nitro, 2000) would find that AFI signature sound received by a rabid audience by then numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Yet more new AFI disciples would come into the fold as that record's "Days Of The Phoenix" somehow found its way onto modern rock radio playlists. |
