Blaqk Audio
Cex Cells
4/5

Who It’s For: Your sister that grew up loving 80’s music and is trying to find something she’ll like from this decade
Sounds Like: What Depeche Mode might’ve sounded like if they were a new band this year

Side projects all too often sound like the musician’s main band. So surprisingly, AFI’s Davey Havok and Jade Puget may have succeeded with Cex Cells from Blaqk Audio because it’s not an AFI album and it doesn’t even try to be. But the success of this side project is surprising because not many people, aside from AFI super fans, even knew Blaqk Audio existed.

With Cex Cells you at times you forget that Havok is doing vocals, it almost seems like he found a lower register and decided to use it just for this band. The electronic sound of the album creates a new sound that most wouldn’t expect from this pair.

Songs like “Where Would You Like Them Left” and “Semiotic Love” leaves no doubt that Havok and Puget have a large appreciation for Depeche Mode and the like, and have taken the inspiration from those bands and turned it into something that sounds decades old and yet completely current.

Comparing AFI and Blaqk Audio is something that really shouldn’t be done because the similarities are fewer than the differences. Fans of AFI will most likely be up in arms about Havok and Puget’s complete lack in sound. But those who generally don’t like AFI or punk based music in general, might find they love this album. And for a side project, you probably couldn’t ask for anything else.

Track Listing:

1. Stiff Kittens
2. Between Breaths (An XX Perspective)
3. Snuff On Digital
4. Bitter For Sweet
5. Where Would You Like Them Left?
6. The Fear Of Being Found
7. On A Friday
8. The Love Letter
9. Semiotic Love
10. Cities Of Night
11. Again, Again And Again
12. Wake Up, Open The Door And Escape To The Sea

- Alyssa Caplin  Posted Aug. 25/07