Sing the Sorrow is the sixth studio album by American rock band AFI. It was released on March 11, 2003 through DreamWorks Records. It debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200. It was certified Platinum in December 2004 by the RIAA. The album was supported by three singles, "Girl's Not Grey", "The Leaving Song Pt. II", and "Silver and Cold", all which have successfully charted within the Alternative Songs Chart.

Background [link]

Sing the Sorrow is considerably different than the band's earlier material, which heavily revolved around the hardcore punk genre. Although Davey Havok's shouts remain intact, the sound shifts towards alternative rock, characterized by more elaborate production, slower tempos, and pieces of industrial music. The album includes experimental segments as well, featuring the inclusion of a spoken word poem accompanied by piano keys and the hidden track "This Time Imperfect", both intertwined within the last track on the album.

Artwork and liner notes [link]

The album was released with three different covers, featuring different colors for the logo and text. The colors were red, silver and black. The original cover features red artwork. Several of the first pressings in the United States and United Kingdom featured the silver cover, but the pressings are now rare and out of print, although the digital version of Sing the Sorrow among iTunes still features the silver artwork. The black cover was solely available at performing shows within the United States tour following the album's release, and through the Despair Faction's online store as well. The black cover is now rare and out of print, with only 2,500 copies in circulation.

All versions of the back cover feature a small encircled picture. The picture is of an ocean horizon, a reference to the artwork of AFI's fourth studio album Black Sails in the Sunset. Although the album was released through DreamWorks Records, a logo of Nitro Records is found on the back cover of all versions, AFI's previous record label. The second to last page of the album booklet features a small picture of a rabbit with the phrase "Rabbits are Roadkill" written next to it, a reference to the song "Rabbits are Roadkill on Rt. 37", recorded during the Sing the Sorrow sessions and released in 2005.

International versions of the album use different artwork on the album label. Often contain a picture of an inverted octopus whilst other contain a foraminifer or a dead bird. All of the pictures are taken from the book Animals by Jim Harter. Some versions, including the Ukrainian edition, feature no artwork on the album label, and have inconsistent cover artwork from other versions.

Sing the Sorrow's seventh track in the North American release, "Death of Seasons", features the only use of profanity in the album. "Fuck" appears twice in the track: once at the 1:33 mark as "all of this hatred/is fucking real", and later at the 2:52 mark as "'cause this hate/is fucking real." However, the album managed to avoid receiving the RIAA's "Parental Advisory Warning" label on the cover by citing the lyric as being "scuking" within the cover booklet, as they had thought the label would ruin the album artwork.

Special limited edition [link]

A special limited edition was released that included the short film Clandestine on DVD, directed by Norwood Cheek. It also contained a 60 page booklet featuring extensive artwork and lyrics as well. The film is eight minutes in length and stars all four band members. The film contains references to imagery and concepts from the album. The film focuses on the four band members trying to obtain a mysterious box which bears resemblance to the Sing the Sorrow album cover. The film features two alternate soundtracks, one by Hunter Burgan and the other by Jade Puget. Only 20,000 copies were pressed.

Extra tracks [link]

Extra tracks are featured on several international versions of the CD release. The UK edition features two bonus tracks, "Synesthesia" and "Now the World". "Now the World" is featured on the Japanese edition as well. These tracks were available for download from a 'secret site' that US editions of the CD release included links. Although, the site has been shut down for some time, since Dreamworks Records were overtaken by Interscope Records. However, most copies of the CD release still have the links to the secret site.

All versions of Sing the Sorrow contain a spoken poem and hidden track "This Time Imperfect" located within the last track of every edition. After a brief silence, haunting piano music begins to play as Jade Puget's younger brother, Gibson, speaks the first third of the poem. After the poem is concluded, the hidden track "This Time Imperfect" fades in, featuring a guitar playing backwards and extensive sampling.

Reception [link]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	81/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Alternative Press	[3]
Blender	[4]
Entertainment Weekly	(D)[5]
PopMatters	(favorable)[6]
Punknews.org	[7]
Rolling Stone	[8]
Sputnikmusic	[9]
Slant Magazine	[10]

Critical response to Sing the Sorrow was very positive. The review aggregator Metacritic scored the album a 81 out of 100, based on 11 reviews, with the mention of "Universal Acclaim".^[1] E! Online called it "[a] well-crafted mix of hardcore bluster, determined melody and anthemic grandness that boasts depth and texture rarely heard from the Warped Tour ilk."^[1] Alternative Press awarded the album a perfect score, saying that, "Sing the Sorrow soars with the kind of melodies hit singles are made of, yet it somehow persists with AFI's esoteric darkness."^[1] Allmusic awarded the album 4 out of 5 stars and wrote: "Emerging in early 2003 with Sing the Sorrow, it's clear the molting process AFI began with Black Sails in Sunset is complete," and concluded that, "Whatever factions of the band's longterm fans might think of their major-label affiliation, Sing the Sorrow represents a coalescing of the band's sound."^[2] Rolling Stone awarded the album a 4 out of 5, claiming that "Sing the Sorrow is not exactly a concept album, but it does have a singleness of dark purpose that builds in momentum as the disc progresses."^[1] In further support, The New York Times rated Sing the Sorrow as the tenth-best album of 2003. Conversely, Entertainment Weekly awarded the album a 'D,' commenting that "The songs combine the most pretentious and overworked elements of their influences."^[1] The New York Times listed the album as one of the best of 2003.^[11]

It ranked #77 in the October 2006 issue of Guitar World magazine's List of the 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time. The album's lead single "Girl's Not Grey" received a 2003 VMA for the 'Best MTV2 Music Video' category.^[12] The track is also a playable track on the video game Rock Band 2, and a downloadable track for the video game Guitar Hero 5 and iPhone/iPod touch application Tap Tap Revenge. "The Leaving Song Pt. II" was also made available as downloadable content for the Rock Band series. "Dancing Through Sunday" was featured as a playable track in the video game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.

Singles [link]

Three singles, each with an accompanying music video, were released from Sing the Sorrow: "Girl's Not Grey", "The Leaving Song Pt. II," and "Silver and Cold." "Girl's Not Grey" was the highest charting single, reaching #7 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart^[18], #33 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and #22 on the UK Singles Chart. The second single, "The Leaving Song Pt. II" charted at #16 on the Alternative Songs chart^[19], #31 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, #27 in Australia, and #43 in the UK. The third and final single, "Silver and Cold" reached #7 on the Alternative Songs chart^[20] and #39 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

Track listing [link]

All songs written and composed by AFI. 

B-sides and unreleased songs [link]

All songs recorded during the Sing the Sorrow sessions unless otherwise noted.

• Demo versions of "Synesthesia", "This Celluloid Dream", "The Great Disappointment", "Paper Airplanes (makeshift wings)", "...but home is nowhere", and "The Leaving Song" can be found as b-sides on the album's single releases.
• A different version of "Now the World" can be found on the 336 EP and the "Girl's Not Grey" single. The title can be found in the special limited edition book of Sing the Sorrow.
• "Reivers' Music" is featured on the DVD of the special limited edition album. It can also be found on the 336 EP and "Girl's Not Grey" single.
• "Rabbits are Roadkill on Rt. 37" was recorded during the Sing the Sorrow sessions, and was eventually released on the MySpace Records: Volume 1 compilation in November 2005 and as a bonus track on the UK and Australian editions of Decemberunderground.
• "Carcinogen Crush" was recorded during the Sing the Sorrow sessions, but the band felt that it did not fit the album. The title can be found in the special limited edition book of Sing the Sorrow. It was eventually re-recorded during the Decemberunderground sessions, but remained unreleased.^[21] It was eventually released as a bonus track on the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and as a digital single on December 4, 2007. It is also featured on the "Medicate" UK vinyl and the Japanese version of Crash Love. Jade Puget confirmed in a blog entry that Hunter Burgan is the sole songwriter of the song. The Sing the Sorrow version remains unreleased.
• "100 Words" was recorded during the Sing the Sorrow sessions, and was not released until years later on the deluxe version of Crash Love. The title can be found in the special limited edition book of Sing the Sorrow.

Personnel [link]

Release history [link]

References [link]

External links [link]

• Sing the Sorrow at Metacritic
• Clandestine at the Internet Movie Database