AFI / DECEMBERUNDERGROUND

On their 2003 major label debut Sing the Sorrow, AFI made a seismic sonic shift, largely eschewing its punk and hardcore past for bombastic pop. For their platinum-selling follow-up Decemberunderground, they reunited with Jerry Finn, the famed producer who helped define pop-punk in the 1990s and 2000s, for what Entertainment Weekly called their most melodically acute distillation of eerie, metal-edged Cure sound.

The album debuted at Number One on the Billboard 200 and features fan favorites “Love Like Winter,” “Kill Caustic,” and “Summer Shudder. Dense arrangements, arena-rock-ready songs and the critically acclaimed (Miss Murder) have made this a perennial favorite. Slicker, sleeker and more immaculately angst-ridden than its predecessor, Alternative Press wrote, their conviction, perseverance and hardcore roots bring a whole other level of intensity to songs about hormonal alienation and heartache.