Anti-Flag – The People or The Gun

It’s continually baffled me why this band has gotten so much shit over the years. They get shit for looking like fashion punks, and yet they’re not – not exclusively, anyway. They get tagged for their dumb lyrics and yet nine times out of ten they’re head and shoulders above the rest of their peers in regards to their lyrical direction and intelligence. Sure, there’s a decent smattering of cuss words seemingly for the sake of saying “fuck,” but then again, I don’t know if you’ve listened to a Total Chaos record recently. Those dudes make Anti-Flag look positively cerebral, you know?

To top it off, they actively put their money where their mouths are – releasing benefit records and regularly donating tour and merch proceeds to causes that reinforce their beliefs. When it comes to mall punk – and yes, I do consider Anti-Flag one of punk rock’s more accessible bands, both musically and in regards to distribution – I can think of only a few other bands that serve as a gateway to people who would not otherwise be exposed to the kinds of ideas they’re presenting. Some thirteen year-old kid buys a record because it’s got a mohawk on the front and the next thing you know, maybe, she’s checking out radical websites on the internet, trying to figure things out. I just don’t understand where all the vitriol comes from.

Okay, now that that’s done… Prior to this release, the last thing I’d heard from the band was 2006’s For Blood And Empire. I thought it was a solid piece of work, covering a range of topics and doing a great job of toeing the line between those somewhat ambiguous fist-in-the-air anthems and more pointed, direct ones (“The W.T.O Kills Farmers”? “Depleted Uranium Is A War Crime”? Shit’s specific.) I’ve found The People Or The Gun to be even catchier than that release, even more anthemic. A few minor complaints aside, it’s a terrifically executed album without a dull spot on it. These guys have crafted a blazing mix-mash of bouncy punk songs and a smattering of more hard-edged, nearly hardcore songs. While it doesn’t show the band blazing any new trails, it’s solid from the first song to the hidden track at the end.

The only complaint I have about The People Or The Gun is the feeling that it’s both a little fractured and a little short. The fact that both singers seem to share the mike much more equally than I remember, coupled with the fact that there’s only ten songs – songs that shuffle from melodic to rough-hewn – throws the pacing off just a bit. It comes across as a tad disjointed and over with a bit too quickly; even two or three more songs would have moored the album, given it a much stronger sense of completion. That aside, The People Or The Gun shows the band in fine form, having lost none of their melody or fury. Dudes haven’t lost a thing, and it’s a damn fine attack.