Crash Love

Crash Love is the eighth studio album by the rock band AFI. Produced by Joe McGrath and Jacknife Lee, it is scheduled for release on September 29, 2009 through Interscope Records.

Following the touring cycle for 2006's Decemberunderground, AFI spent two years writing and recording their next album while also working on a number of side projects: bassist Hunter Burgan started Hunter Revenge and briefly reunited with his old band The Force, while singer Davey Havok and guitarist Jade Puget recorded and performed as the electronic act Blaqk Audio. Havok also launched a fashion line while Puget worked on remixing and production for other musical artists. In November 2008 AFI announced that they had finished writing their next album and would be recording it with producer David Bottrill. The following month the band's official website was redesigned and relaunched, and a contest entitled "Begin Transmission" was announced in which fans were invited to submit homemade videos to be considered for a spot to record backing vocals on the album. Thousands of entries were received and personally reviewed by the band members, and the five winners recorded their parts with the band at Conway Studios in Los Angeles in February 2009.

In January 2009 AFI split with Bottrill in favor of producers Joe McGrath (who had worked with Morrissey, Alkaline Trio, and Blink-182) and Jacknife Lee. However, they continued working on the same songs and did not abandon any of the material that had already been recorded. The album's title was announced as Crash Love in February 2009, and in July its release date was set as September 29. A viral marketing campaign was used to reveal the album's tracks, with songs announced one-by-one on the band's website as fans sent messages to a Twitter account. The full track listing and album art were reported by various music publications on August 21.

Speaking about the album's sound, Burgan remarked that "This is definitely more of a rock album–more immediate and definitely more of a focused, direct approach musically. Compared to Decemberunderground, where some of the songs were more subtle, these are more in-your-face." In announcing the completion of Crash Love, Havok stated that "personally, I've never been more proud of an AFI record." ". . .but it definitely feels like that's what we've achieved: created the album by which we'll be remembered", stated Havok in an interview done with Total Assault.

The album's first single, "Medicate", became available for purchase through iTunes on August 25, 2009, was released to radio stations September 1, and is included as a playable track in the video game Guitar Hero 5. Several b-sides will also be available through iTunes, which will offer both regular and deluxe editions of the album: "Too Late for Gods" and "Breathing Towers to Heaven" are available with pre-orders, while the deluxe edition also includes exclusive versions of both of these songs plus "100 words", "Fainting Spells", "We've Got the Knife", and "Where We Used to Play".