Cochlear Implant

AFI
Crash Love
(Interscope)
***

Any band that almost single-handedly inspired legions of boys and girls to wear skinny jeans and mascara in the summertime deserves respect. (Of course, we were all making jokes behind their backs — the secret’s out!) A Fire Inside has undergone many mutations over the years, from whiny punk-rockers to whiny goths to chart-topping rock stars. So when I saw Davey Havok posing with a fauxhawk, I had to wonder what this new transformation involves. Turns out Crash Love is the same thing: new haircut, everything else the same. It’s got all of AFI’s signature ingredients: an unhealthy infatuation with darkness, incomprehensible lyrics that every youngster nevertheless relates to, and a flair for quiet build-ups and haunting chants and grumbles. “Medicate” starts off with Havok’s signature squeal before giving way to a classic AFI moan: “So I’ve come to find everyone goes away/I’m destined to remain/You were never mine, so you were perfect.” Thousands of kids feel your pain, Davey.