{"id":20636,"date":"2014-07-28T09:00:40","date_gmt":"2014-07-28T09:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-anti-flag-a-document-of-dissent\/"},"modified":"2018-03-17T15:10:31","modified_gmt":"2018-03-17T15:10:31","slug":"album-review-anti-flag-a-document-of-dissent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-anti-flag-a-document-of-dissent\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Anti-Flag – A Document of Dissent: 1993-2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It\u2019s all too easy to write off Anti-Flag<\/strong> as the poster-boys of point-blank political punk. Their blunt, anti-authoritarian agenda is on the same side of the political spectrum as Propagandhi, but in terms of the depth of their arguments and the complexity of their message the two bands are worlds apart.<\/p>\n

For this reason I was ready to pan this album, a commemorative collection of songs to mark the band\u2019s 20 year career, and then I listened through and realised I was wrong. Despite their route one values, Anti-Flag\u2019s music has adapted wonderfully to the passage of time, producing some fantastic songs and never losing focus. The reason I loved this band as a teenager wasn\u2019t just because I was less cynical. It\u2019s because they were damn good.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re gonna die gonna die gonna die for your government, die for your country that\u2019s shit!\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 The opening line of first track \u2018Die For The Government\u2019<\/em> would make an intelligent libertarian weep, but so what? It\u2019s got to be one of the most recognisable lyrics in the whole of punk rock, and that means that Anti-Flag<\/strong> have already won the war.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The tracks on \u2018A Document of Dissent\u2019<\/em> run chronologically starting with their early output, and\u00a0 whilst the band’s 90s releases were a little more scattergun in terms of their structure and flow, this was still an era that produced some fan favourites including the fantastic \u2018A New Kind of Army\u2019<\/em> and the wonderful \u2018That\u2019s Youth\u2019,<\/em> which has a real classic 80s hardcore vibe to it.<\/p>\n

The early noughties heralded the release of \u2018Underground Network\u2019<\/em> and the beginning of a heavier and more melodic Anti-Flag<\/strong>. This is paid homage with the inclusion of \u2018Angry Young and Poor\u2019<\/em> and \u2018This Machine Kills Fascists\u2019,<\/em> which is such a rip-roaring burst of pent-up aggression against intolerance that it makes you want to throw your Noam Chomsky on the floor and pump your fists in the air.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re then taken forward to the finest period in the band\u2019s career: the release of \u2018The Terror State\u2019<\/em> in 2003. Tracks like \u2018Turncoat\u2019<\/em> and \u2018Power To The Peaceful\u2019<\/em> are downright brilliant and are akin to the new melodic hardcore sound that was emerging at the time from bands like Strike Anywhere and Rise Against. Anti-Flag<\/strong> saw all this as positive for punk rock and embraced the change, writing music that was every bit as on the pulse as their younger peers.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Next we\u2019re taken through the \u2018For Blood and Empire\u2019<\/em> era, a time when the band\u2019s music took it\u2019s foot off the gas and became a little more reflective, lost a little edge and maybe even felt the smallest bit jaded. But with \u2018The Bright Lights of America\u2019<\/em> released in 2008 they redressed the balance and found their swagger again, as you\u2019ll hear from the title track which can be found on this release.<\/p>\n

\u2018A Document of Dissent\u2019<\/em> ends with a few tracks from their more recent releases such as \u2018The People or The Gun\u2019<\/em> and \u2018The General Strike\u2019,\u00a0<\/em>which are all strong and representative of how they have never lost their desire to make their fans happy, which after twenty years is massively commendable. If you want to introduce a younger sibling or (dare I say it) son or daughter to the world of punk rock this is one hell of a starting point. A band who have seen and done it all and spat on the corporate tee shirt.<\/p>\n

5\/5<\/p>\n

‘A Document of Dissent: 1993-2013’<\/em> by Anti-Flag<\/strong> is out now on Fat Wreck Chords<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Anti-Flag<\/strong> links: Website<\/a>|Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Alex Phelan (@listen_to_alex)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s all too easy to write off Anti-Flag as the poster-boys of point-blank political punk. Their blunt, anti-authoritarian agenda is on the same side of the political spectrum as Propagandhi, but in terms of the depth of their arguments and the complexity of their message the two bands are worlds apart. For this reason I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8181],"tags":[9404,5879,555,607],"class_list":["post-20636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-post","tag-a-document-of-dissent-1993-2013","tag-album-reviews","tag-anti-flag","tag-fat-wreck-chords"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAlbum Review: Anti-Flag - A Document of Dissent: 1993-2013 - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s all too easy to write off Anti-Flag as the poster-boys of point-blank political punk. 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