Sing the Sorrow

Musically, Sing the Sorrow is a departure from the hardcore punk and horror punk genres featured in the band's previous material. The album features elements of hardcore punk, post-hardcore, alternative rock, gothic rock, and emo.[3][4] The album is more experimental than previous AFI albums.[4] The album includes instruments other than guitar, bass and drums, including instruments such as piano and strings.[3] Lyrically, the album is darker and more poetic than previous material. The opening track features some electronic programming from Jade Puget.[5] The album includes a hidden song, which leads into a spoken word poem accompanied by piano keys and distorted synth sounds.[6]

The album was released with three different covers, featuring different colors for the text, logo, and iconography.[lower-alpha 1] The colors were red, silver and black. The original cover features red artwork.[9] Several of the first pressings in the United States and United Kingdom featured the silver cover,[10] 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 official fan club's online store as well. The black cover is now rare and out of print, with only 2,500 copies in circulation.[11]

All versions of the back cover feature a small encircled picture of an ocean horizon, a reference to the artwork of AFI's fourth studio album, Black Sails in the Sunset.[12] 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.

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, "Death of Seasons", features the only use of profanity on the album. "Fuck" is used twice: once at 1:33 as "all of this hatred is fucking real", and later at 2:52 as "'cause this hate is fucking real." The album managed to avoid receiving the RIAA's Parental Advisory label by printing the lyric as "scuking" [sic] within the booklet ("****ing" in latter pressings), as the band thought the label would ruin the album artwork.

The album was released on March 11, 2003, through DreamWorks Records. In mid-to-late June and mid-to-late July, the group appeared on the Warped Tour.[13]

The hard-book cover of the limited edition

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	81/100[16]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Alternative Press	5/5[17]
Blender	[18]
Entertainment Weekly	D[19]
Los Angeles Times	[20]
Q	[21]
Rolling Stone	[22]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[23]
Slant Magazine	[6]
Spin	B+[24]

Critical response to Sing the Sorrow was mostly very positive. The review aggregator Metacritic scored the album an 81 out of 100, based on 11 reviews, with the mention of "universal acclaim".[16] 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."[16] 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."[16] 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."[3] 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."[16] In further support, The New York Times rated Sing the Sorrow as the tenth-best album of 2003. Conversely, Entertainment Weekly gave the album a 'D', commenting that "The songs combine the most pretentious and overworked elements of their influences."[16] The New York Times listed the album as one of the best of 2003.[25]

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.[26] 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. "Miseria Cantare" was used in the trailer for the 2014 short film Interference, which premiered at the Roxbury Film Festival.

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,[33] #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,[33] #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[33] and #39 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

All tracks are written by AFI.

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", "The Leaving Song", and "Now the World" can be found as b-sides on the album's single releases.
• "Reivers' Music" is featured on the DVD of the special limited edition album, as well as the "Girl's Not Grey" single and the 336 EP.[34][lower-alpha 2]
• "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[35] in November 2005 and as a bonus track on the UK and Australian editions of Decemberunderground.[36]
• "Carcinogen Crush" was recorded during the Sing the Sorrow sessions, but the band felt that it did not fit the album.[lower-alpha 3] It was eventually re-recorded during the Decemberunderground sessions, but remained unreleased.[37] 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,[lower-alpha 3] and was not released until 2009 on the deluxe version of Crash Love.

• Sing the Sorrow at Metacritic
• Clandestine at IMDb
• Lyrics from this album at MetroLyrics