[7][8][9][10] The album release includes four limited sleeve art and vinyl color variants, corresponding to each of the four members of AFI, and associated with each of the four blood groups (A, O, B and AB).
Commercially, AFI was the band's most successful domestic album since Decemberunderground, debuting at number 5 on the Billboard 200, with 29,000 equivalent music units moved.
Vocalist Davey Havok and guitarist Jade Puget focused on the hardcore band called XTRMST, which released its eponymous debut album in 2014.
In a June 2016 interview with Aggressive Tendencies, Jade Puget confirmed that AFI had begun working on new material for their tenth studio album, but chose not to reveal more information about it, including the release date.
[15] The album cover, designed by Frank Maddocks, is dark red and features three stylized blood drops—which are a window to the gatefold.
[16] On the album title, Havok states: I started to recognize the reoccurrence of blood in the lyrics that I was writing for what would eventually become the record.
I brought it to Jade's attention early on in the process as something we might want to revisit at the time we decided what was generally gonna comprise the finished record.When we got to that point, "Blood Album" seemed an appropriate subtitle for the record.
"[17] On October 17, 2016, a few days after blacking out their profile pictures on social media, AFI began posting cryptic teaser videos on their Facebook and Twitter accounts.
When describing the length of time (four years) between AFI and their previous album, Burials, Havok said "we just come from the place of wanting to be 100% happy with the works we create, rather than fulfilling some sort of demand, whether it be from a label or a consumer.
[24] On October 27, the band released two new songs, "Snow Cats" and "White Offerings", via their Spotify and with audio on their YouTube channel.
In an interview with Pitchfork, Havok said the video is to "animate a cyclical struggle with the surreal colors of applied persona and identity".
Critics and journalists noted that the video seemed to be focused on being uncomfortably up close and personal about issues,[37] as well as show the signs of human aging over time.
[39] The music video was inspired by silent movies of the early 20th century and involved a murder mystery at a masquerade party.
Club, Annie Zaleski praised the album, and said the band felt "refreshed" and "rejuvenated" praising the glam rock and jangle pop influences from Morrissey and Echo and The Bunnymen, saying that AFI "doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it doesn’t need to: The record illustrates that the members of AFI are deeply committed to forward motion, and remain as fired up now as they were 25 years ago.
[44] Like Zaleski, Neil Yueng of Allmusic praised what he felt was ambition from the band, stating that "there's certainly enough here to prove that post-Nitro AFI are a better and stronger group, unafraid to continue pushing their sound with each release.
[1] Megan Roos, writing for Consequence of Sound believe that the album had strong moments, but felt ultimately it tried too hard to appeal to everyone.
Roos said that "it's not that the record isn’t good – it possesses potential chart-climbers and bittersweet moments that’ll make fans nostalgic for the group’s early punk days.
"[47] Roos summarized that AFI felt too safe and cautious, "they chose the shelter of mainstream acceptance, a predictable – if disappointing – decision.