Anti-Flag - The Bright Lights Of America Review

Anguished, earnest, adrenalized: such is the emotional palette of Anti-Flag, a Pittsburgh punk band with a method nearly as subtle as its name. On “The Bright Lights of America,” its eighth full-length release, the group rails against the Iraq war, suburban blight and “neo-Christian theocrats,” among other things. In the spirit of adolescence (and yes, a strain of punk), the album’s tone combines bitter irreverence with ardent idealism....full text Although a label like “political punk” can be too limiting, placing a band’s ideology and outspokenness ahead of the actual music, Anti-Flag have always successfully bridged substance and style. Their work is rife with diatribes against corruption and the current White House administration, and the music itself is constantly challenging and reshaping the mould....full text There's a point in "Good And Ready"—the opening track of Anti-Flag's ambitious new The Bright Lights Of America—where a disembodied xylophone begins to ping in the background. Then bells start to peal. Within a matter of seconds, a choir of little kiddies chimes in. And just as quickly, they're gone—leaving a limp, rote punk song in their wake. Raise that to the power of tubular bells, cellos, brass, timpani, and glockenspiel, and you've got an idea of how severely Bright Lights' formula flounders. Too much of the disc, like the histrionic "The Modern Rome Burning," swipes singsong, folk-stoked stridency from Against Me! and American Steel; the rest of it throws random orchestration at the wall and misses it altogether....full text