AFI are no strangers to goth’s dark arts, from the tortured hardcore anguish of 1999’s classic Black Sails in the Sunset and the smeared-guyliner sound of 2003’s commercial breakthrough Sing the Sorrow to the inky rock music of 2021’s Bodies. But on the California legends’ 12th studio album Silver Bleeds the Black Sun…, Davey Havok and company journey further into the shadowy sounds of 1980s rock than ever before. The anthemic “Blasphemy & Excess” is immediately reminiscent of Siouxie & The Banshees’ dark-clothing fantasias, while spring-loaded guitar lines bounce around “Ash Speck in a Green Eye” in a manner not unlike Joy Division’s singular sonic miserabilia. Splashy drums abound courtesy of long-time sticksman Adam Carson, whose machine-gun rhythms have mutated into pounding heartbeats—but the biggest change apparent is Havok’s voice, which has taken on a distinctly dramatic timbre after decades of howling into the void. AFI are still reinventing themselves more than 30 years into their career, and long-time fans of this group would never expect anything less.