Vocabulary Lessons With AFI’s Davey Havok

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AFI have gone through a lot of changes in their 20-plus years as a band. Their lineup, their sound, even frontman Davey Havok‘s hair “ it’s all evolved pretty substantially since these California natives started playing together back in the early ˜90s.

But the one constant on each of the band’s nine studio albums is Havok’s expansive vocabulary. While AFI’s most recent effort, the sprawling, gothic Burials, couldn’t be more different from the noisy punk on their debut Answer That and Stay Fashionable, both records (and all those that fall between them) are chock full of obscure words that never came up in English class. Today, we’re taking a look back over some of the more impressive ten-dollar words that Havok has slipped into his songs over the years.

Preturnatural (adj.): Very unusual in a way that does not seem natural, existing outside of nature
From ¦But Home is Nowhere on Sing the Sorrow

Use it in a sentence, Davey: This is my line, this is eternal. How did I ever end up here? Discarnate, preternatural, my prayers to disappear.

Filigree (n.): Delicate and intricate ornamental work made from gold, silver, or other fine twisted wire.
From God Called in Sick Today on Black Sails in the Sunset

Use it in a sentence, Davey: Let’s admire the pattern forming. Murderous filigree. I’m caught in the twisting of the vine.

Exsanguination (n.): The process of blood loss, to a degree sufficient to cause death
From Exsanguination on Black Sails in the Sunset

Amaranth (n.): any plant of the genus Amaranthus, typically having small green, red, or purple tinted flowers
From The Great Disappointment on Sing the Sorrow

Use it in a sentence, Davey: I can remember, I searched for the amaranth. I’d shut my eyes to see.

Synesthesia (n.): A condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a color
From Synesthesia on Sing the Sorrow UK edition

Enmity (n.): The state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something
From Smile ­on The Art of Drowning

Use it in a sentence, Davey: Overwhelmed with a deep repulsion for sights seen so commonly, now I have come to be the walking enmity.

Monolithic (adj.): Consisting of one piece; solid or unbroken
From “Paper Airplanes (Makeshift Wings) on Sing the Sorrow

Use it in a sentence, Davey: “Raise high monolithic statues, so fragile as they fall. I am ever enthralled.”

Requite (v.): To give or do something in return for (something that another person has given or done)
From Greater Than 84 on Burials

Use it in a sentence, Davey: As you overthrow, looking pale and pretty, I welcome your requite.

Resplendence (n.): Splendid or dazzling in appearance; brilliant
From Silver and Cold on Sing the Sorrow

Use it in a sentence, Davey: And now, it is silver and silent, it is silver and cold. You, in somber resplendence, I hold.

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