Album · AFI
The Art of Drowning by AFI
The Art of Drowning is an album by AFI, released in 2000. 1 song from it has charted on rock radio countdowns, with 7 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “The Days of the Phoenix”, on 7 lists with a best position of #32.
The Art of Drowning, AFI's fifth album, arrived on Nitro Records in September 2000, and it's the record where the hardcore kids from Ukiah, California let the dark side swallow them whole. Davey Havok, Adam Carson, Hunter Burgan and Jade Puget, together since 1998, finished recording that June, and the songs still sprint like melodic hardcore but come dressed for a funeral: horror-punk menace, shouted choruses and Havok's theatrical wail.
The details are pure gothic theater. "The Despair Factor" marks AFI's first real turn with electronic drums and has Havok borrowing a line Winona Ryder spoke in Beetlejuice; the track even gave the band's fan club, the Despair Faction, its name. "The Lost Souls" started life as the title song. The cover finishes the job: orange hand-drawn lettering over a frozen graveyard, where a twisted statue sits in prayer atop an iced-over fountain. It was also the album that first brought AFI real commercial success.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from The Art of Drowning on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Days of the Phoenix | 7 | #32 | – | 2000–2006 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.