A Fire Inside - Musical Style, Legacy and Influences

Musical Style, Legacy and Influences

AFI's volatile sound has been described with many genres, including hardcore punk, post-hardcore, punk rock, horror punk, post-punk revival and alternative rock. The band has often been called "goth-punk" due to their appearance, but they never considered the label accurate. "Goth-punk isn't a style of music, it doesn't even exist," guitarist Jade Puget has said.

The band has received much credit for influencing late-90's and 2000's post-hardcore and deathrock. The Sydney Morning Herald has pointed the band out as being responsible for bringing back the big '80s rock chorus. The band has received much praise in particular from Alternative Press, which has supported the group since the mid-1990s. The publication rated the band's major label debut, Sing the Sorrow as the most anticipated album of 2003, and noted that it "blew the doors off goth-punk as we knew it".

AFI has also been granted responsibility for influencing the rise of the visual element of rock bands in the 2000s; in a December 2006 article, Revolver Magazine wrote that "AFI have increased the importance of a band's visual identity and the flair for the theatrical," adding that "when a group like Panic! at the Disco borrows imagery from a movie such as Moulin Rouge!, you have to consider the precedent AFI set when they borrowed cues from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas."

Shoutmouth.com placed AFI at number 22 on its list of the 25 most influential punk bands, noting that the band "have evolved with each album, showing that a punk band can not only change, but stay true to their sound at the same time. AFI have been on a constant rise through their career, and as such, eeked out the honors". Take Your Shot fanzine credited AFI for "forging that more melodic U.S. hardcore sound" and dubbed The Art of Drowning as "classic".

Frontman Davey Havok was also acclaimed by Take Your Shot zine, as he "carried the flag for the horror punk style that the Misfits created in the 80s," and "with his ongoing output throughout the years, Davey has become the ambassador of horror punk and has really helped this genre develop further". After Sing The Sorrow's release, Yorkshire Evening Post described his voice as one of those "you'll love or hate, but one thing can't be denied, this guy has range beyond belief". Recognized by his trademark flair and vocal style, Havok has been recognized as "a bona fide rock god" by Alternative Press.

In an interview, Davey Havok described the band's influences: "We have many, many influences that span the musical spectrum. Each of us grew up on everything from punk to hardcore to dark '80s UK stuff like The Cure, Bauhaus, Joy Division, and Sisters of Mercy. And there were rock bands like Guns N’ Roses and Metallica and industrial bands like Skinny Puppy, Ministry, Front 242 and Alien Sex Fiend. And we all love The Smiths."