The band first reached substantial commercial success with their fifth album, The Art of Drowning (2000), which peaked at number 174 on the Billboard 200.

[6] They then broke into the mainstream with their sixth, Sing the Sorrow (2003), which peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 51 weeks.

[6] The album was supported by popular singles "Girl's Not Grey" and "Silver and Cold", both of which peaked at number seven on America's Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart in 2003.

Sing the Sorrow was certified Platinum by the RIAA in 2006[7] and is AFI's best-selling release, having sold over 1.26 million copies as of September 2009[update].

[8] AFI's seventh album, Decemberunderground (2006), debuted at number one on the Billboard 200[6][9] and featured the hit single "Miss Murder", which topped the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart, reached number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100[b] and appeared in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

While still in high school in Ukiah, California, lead vocalist Davey Havok formed a band called AFI in November 1991 with Mark Stopholese and Vic Chalker.

They decided to commit to AFI full-time after an extremely positive experience and enthusiastic crowd response at a reunion show they played at The Phoenix Theater over Christmas break.

His spot was filled by current AFI bassist Hunter Burgan for the remaining album tour dates.

Burgan went on to help AFI record Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes (1997) and was invited to become their full-time bassist.

The song "The Boy Who Destroyed the World" was featured in the video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3,[26] and the single "Totalimmortal" was later covered by The Offspring.

[28] It continued to touch base with the horror punk genre, but expanded into styles that were a departure from previous works.

[30] "The Days of the Phoenix" was released as a single and video and had some moderate mainstream success, garnering the band more TV and radio airplay.

DreamWorks Records artists and repertoire executive Luke Wood signed them to the label following intense interest.

The album opened in Billboard's top ten and scored enthusiastic lead reviews in major music magazines.

II", and "Silver and Cold" had some Billboard chart success and exposed the band to even larger audiences.

[36] The album's second single, "Love Like Winter", was successful on MTV's Total Request Live and was retired after 40 days on the countdown.

[37] The album was well-received, with punknews.org giving it a four-star rating and commenting that when hearing or seeing the performance "you begin to realize AFI are truly a great live band," and that at some points "Pantera would say turn the noise down.

In July 2009, Havok announced that after two years of writing and recording, a new album titled Crash Love would be released on September 29, 2009.

[6] In a June 2016 interview with Aggressive Tendencies, Puget confirmed that AFI had begun working on new material for their tenth studio album.

[56] On March 11, 2023, AFI played Sing the Sorrow in full for the first and last time at the Kia Forum on the album's 20th anniversary, supported by Jawbreaker, Chelsea Wolfe and Choir Boy.

[81][82] AFI's first three albums, Answer That and Stay Fashionable (1995),[83] Very Proud of Ya (1996),[81] and Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes (1997),[84] all have been described as hardcore punk.

[93][94] In 2021 AFI released their 11th album Bodies, which has been described as continuing their gothic rock sound and taking a greater influence from new wave.

[95][96] Louder wrote, "Long before My Chemical Romance topped the charts with the anthemic ‘'Welcome to the Black Parade'’, California's AFI were already injecting their brand of punk with gothic imagery and a sense of theatricality.

"[58] AllMusic described AFI as "Northern California hardcore punk revivalists" whose style "evolved to include alternative rock, post-punk, emo, and new wave flair".

[97] The Encyclopedia of Popular Music said that "Although often described as a cross between goth rock and hardcore punk, by the time of their commercial breakthrough in 2003, [AFI] started out as a straight ahead skate/punk band.

"Each of us grew up on everything from punk to hardcore to dark '80s UK stuff like the Cure, Bauhaus, Joy Division, and [the] Sisters of Mercy.

"[102] Other groups that have inspired AFI include the Teen Idles, Dag Nasty, Government Issue, Negative Approach, Earth Crisis, Snapcase, Refused, Sick of it All, the Cro-Mags, Minor Threat, Black Flag, the Misfits, the Germs, and State of Alert.

[105][106] According to the Sydney Morning Herald, AFI have been "hailed as being responsible for bringing back the big '80s rock chorus.

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".

[110] After Sing The Sorrow's release, Yorkshire Evening Post described Havok's voice as one of those "you'll love or hate, but one thing can't be denied, this guy has range beyond belief".