The music of AFI has changed over the years. At first they played very tough punk rock, as heard on the first publications in 1996. They covered, among other things Misfits "Negative Approach", the songs were short, just plain stupid, silly and the lyrics were pseudo-political.

This changed with the third album "Shut your mouth and open your eyes", which is a consistently aggressive but melodic hardcore punk album.

The album "Black Sails in the Sunset"  had a lot of melody change, especially after they collided with Jade Puget, a new guitarist and songwriter for the band. With "Shut your mouth and open your eyes" the dark image of the band increased,  and the lyrics got more melancholic, personal, and aggressive. 

 "The Art of Drowning 2000" was punky, fast paced, but the lyrics resembled more, and more  poetry, ballads and melancholy moments. In 2003 AFI came out with "Sing the Sorrow" their most ambitious and epic musical album, which allowed, despite the audible punk rock roots, smaller electronic experiments, Pop and more melody. 

AFI  today, sees themselves  as an alternative rock band. 

By Melanie Bradley