Album Review
Anti-Flag - The People Or The GunAnti-Flag – The People Or The Gun

Anti-Flag are a band that I have always loved and seemed to of loved even more with each and every album they release, whilst quite a lot of people are the opposite and totally go off the band with each and every album they release because they stick to the same formula of political fast paced punk songs and people tend to get tired and bored of it.

Well Anti-Flag are now back with their seventh full-length studio album and it is due to be released on the 9th June and it is their first album for Side One Dummy Records which is a slight change for the band considering their last two albums were released on major label RCA Records.

I have to be honest, the first time I listened to ‘The People Or The Gun’, I was very disappointed for a few reasons, the first was that the themes covered on the album were pretty much the same as any Anti-Flag release with politics, war and the government being the main topics and secondly some of the songs on the album sounded nothing like Anti-Flag at all, but after listening to the album a few times over I have grown to love it and can relate to many of the themes covered within the album.

The album fires off to a classic fast paced Anti-Flag political start with ‘Sodom, Gomorrah, Washington D.C (Sheep In Shepherds Clothing)’, yeah the title is pretty damn long winded but the song is just what you would expect from Anti-Flag with its fast paced dual guitar work and equally as fast and furious dual vocals.

The best song on the album without a doubt is ‘The Economy Is Suffering... Let It Die’, the song is fast, bouncy and catchy yet it still keeps the raw punk style that Anti-Flag have always had but the best thing about the song is the lyrics as they are so damn true, the song is about how the economy is at the moment with the credit crunch and all the banks and major corporations being bailed out whilst the homeless and poor are left to suffer, lyrics such as “Where are all the bailouts for the homeless and the poor” and “We’re so fucked, we’re so fucked, this world is shit out of luck, we don’t give a fuck” are so true and pure fucking genius that only a band like Anti-Flag could write and master such a song and theme in such a way. The song is bound to grow as a fan favourite it months to come.

The first song that sounds so different from the usual Anti-Flag material is ‘The Gre(a)t Depression’ , at first I didn’t like the song but I think that’s because it is a big change for Anti-Flag, but I have now grown to love the song, the arrangements of the song are great, the baseline is extremely bouncy from start to finish, vocally the song becomes quite a chant-a-long affair and once again the lyrics are really great.

Anti-Flag seem to include a slow sing-along song on every album and this time around that token slow song is ‘This Is The First Night’, the song is a great big sing-along affair which will have you swaying your arms from side to side if you ever witness these guys play in live.

The raw catchiness of ‘No War Without Warriors (How Do You Sleep?)’ is great, ‘When All The Lights Go Out’ is extremely catchy but sounds like a song I have heard before, maybe Anti-Flag played it when I watched them live a few weeks ago, ‘The Old Guard’ is perfect closing track with the lyrics of “Good night and good bye”.

‘The People Or The Gun’ is pretty much what we have come to expect from Anti-Flag now with the way that it is a political charged album, I know a lot of people are growing tired of their political themes but to be honest now is the best time to get political as the world is in a pretty bad state and end of the day if you are fed up of the political themes then jog on and listen to your Sisters Hannah Montana cd’s.

This album is nowhere near my favourite Anti-Flag album but it is a pretty decent album that is lyrically amazing.

4/5

Review by Trigger
 Band Members
Anti Flag - Band
Justin Sane (Guitar & Vocals)
Chris #2 (Bass & Vocals)
Chris Head (Guitar)
Pat Thetic (Drums)
 Track Listing
1. Sodom, Gomorrah, Washington D.C. (Sheep in Shepherds Clothing)
2. The Economy is Suffering…Let It Die
3. The Gre(A)t Depression
4. We Are The One
5. You Are Fired (Take This Job)
6. This Is The First Night
7. No War Without Warriors (How Do You Sleep?)
8. When All The Lights Go Out
9. On Independence Day
10. The Old Guard
11. Teenage Kennedy Lobotomy
 Band Related Links
Anti-Flag Myspace
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?