Album review: Anti-Flag - The People or The Gun

It’s only been a year since the group released their latest album, ‘The Bright Lights of America’. However, these boys know what is going on in this world. And there is no time to waste. They want to be heard, and they will be heard. Even now, with Obama as the new president of the United States, Anti-Flag stands up for human rights. After all, injustice against humanity is still driving a large part of today’s world economy. This album, with its eleven songs and only thirty minutes of playtime, will wake you up immediately. It’s asking you to focus on humanity.

The blasting guitars, along with Chris#2’s familiar voice and Pat Thetic’s pounding drums, mark the first song on this record. Fans of the bass guitarist should notice the passion in every word that comes out of his mouth. When mentioning the song title ‘When All The Lights Go Out’, some music-critics refer to ‘The Bright Lights of America’ as a somewhat ironical title-choice. In fact, ‘When All The Lights Go Out’ is inspired by a poem called ‘The Nobodies’. It refers to all the poor who are unseen, who work their asses off but are never mentioned, who are being screwed over time and time again. Songs like ‘No War Without Warriors (How Do You Sleep?)’ and ‘You Are Fired (Take This Job, Ah, F#%* it!)’ give this album a high punk rock attitude with Chris#2 screaming his lungs out. Whereas Justin Sane slows it down with ‘This Is The First Night’, at the same time he is asking how it is that he is still alive. Guitarist Chris Head satisfies us once again with his tremendous musical talent. His thrilling solos give us goose bumps like we haven’t had them before. The lyrics on this album, all point to the fact that the band members of this band wear their hearts on their sleeve. You’re fired!/You stupid fucking piece of shit!/You’re fired!/You’re nothing but a hypocrite!

A striking thing about the new album are the additional vocals of some other great musicians, like the Bouncing Souls’ Greg Attonito, Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath, Alexisonfire’s Wade MacNeil and Big D and the Kids Table’s David McWane. These guys have toured and cooperated with Anti-Flag before and they all share the same views. The ominous guitar solos of Head and Sane, #2’s hearty bass and Thetic’s appealing job on the drums, make this album a high-principled record. The band uses memorable quotes of memorable people in their new songs; Joe Strummer, Woody Guthrie and June Jordan, to name just a few.

Verdict: This is not just an album to listen to. This is an album that will inspire you. To take part in this fight, which one can’t win on his own. It’s time to choose which side you are on. The side of the people or the side of the gun.

Florien