AFI released their new single, “Get Dark,” this morning, the first track off of their new EP The Missing Man, slated for a Dec. 7 release. Listen to “Get Dark” here.

“From the initial performance and recording, it had a driving sense of forward movement and penetrating connection,” AFI lead vocalist Davey Havok said about the new single. “The song’s themes of deification and deference, self-loathing and vanity, captivation and release, damage and healing, are posed in a subtle invitation to those inherently compelled to accept.”

The EP is mixed and produced by AFI guitarist Jade Puget, who has been in the band since 1998.

“I was aiming for something a little raw for ‘Get Dark.’ In fact, I used most of the vocal takes from the very first time Davey sang it, as well as some of my guitar parts from when we were writing it,” Puget said. “The song is built on the sparseness and simplicity of the verse drum groove and guitar riff that opens up into this big anthemic chorus. For the EP, the same idea of a certain rawness was really important to the overall vibe. I feel like it’s easy to turn out a slick, polished set of songs, but to walk that fine line between studio creation and live sound can be difficult. It’s been an intense labor of love and we can’t wait for everyone to hear it.”

The Missing Man follows last year’s AFI (The Blood Album), which hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative and Hard Rock Albums Charts and No. 5 on The Billboard 200.  It was the band’s second consecutive Top 10 Billboard debut following 2013’s Burials.

“Thanks to the unexpected continuation of The Blood Tour, we found ourselves inspired to begin writing,” Havok said. “It was during this process that The Missing Man was found.”

Since the release of their debut album Answer That and Stay Fashionable in 1995, AFI (Havok, Puget, rummer Adam Carson and bassist Hunter Burgan) have written and recorded five top ten hit singles, hit No. 1 on The Billboard 200, garnered worldwide critical acclaim and amassed a fiercely loyal global following whose members number in the millions.

Preorder The Missing Man here and get a free download of “Get Dark.”

Photo credit: Marisa Rose Ficara