Anti-Flag – American Spring
- Written by Kirsty Bates
Pittsburgh-based Anti-Flag have always endeavoured to deliver their musical statements through their work and their new album American Spring is no different. The album’s social and political critique of the current climate as well as the album’s artwork is sure to prompt conversation, which was the intention and why punk was initially founded. Anti-Flag want to challenge views of violence and peace whilst inspiring change, which is quite evident throughout their new album and makes listening to the album much more of an interesting experience, and brings you something new on each playthrough.
‘Sky is Falling’ is a commentary on the American drone strikes and acknowledges the feelings of those on the wrong end of those strikes lyrically with powerful lines including: “There's no help coming because no one cares / The world just sits by, waiting for us to die…” The repetition of “the sky is falling down” and “I know it’s much too late” show how much Anti-Flag want this message to come across. The track doesn’t fail to deliver musically either, with a strong guitar solo and powerful backing throughout which only adds to the powerful message.
My personal favourite track has to be ‘Brandenburg Gate’, not only is it quite catchy and anthemic for a punk album, but it has the unique vocal backing of Rancid’s Tim Armstrong. The song lends itself to the addition of Armstrong’s vocals, and whilst it discusses greed, passion and sin, it’s the music which you will remember after listening.
The album doesn’t disappoint when it comes to a socio-political commentary on modern life with lyrics such as “We live in a fabled world, where the poor and the weak, are pawns for profit’s sake” from ‘Fabled World’ and “Away, away I can't get away / From masses we shadows, from masses we can't escape” from ‘All of the Poison, All of the Pain’, allowing the listener to question their beliefs and think of others. This is all backed with what is more pop punk than some of their earlier work but is still an awesome listen. This album is definitely for those who want to challenge their own beliefs.