Anti-Flag

For Blood And Empire

[4/5] Let’s deal with this right away: Although Anti-Flag are now on a major label, For Blood And Empire isn’t where they sell out worse than the Clash circa Combat Rock. No, the closest the Warped generation’s most political of punk bands get to the mainstream here is “One Trillion Dollars,” which starts out with acoustic guitars and plaintive vocals. But just when you’re convinced you’ve discovered the feel-good folk-punk hit of the summer, singer/guitarist Justin Sane clocks in with the line “Fuck the world/A lotta people gotta die tonight,” ensuring that Anti-Flag won’t be ruling the Clear Channel airwaves anytime soon. The rest of For Blood And Empire hits even harder: Things kick off with “I’d Tell You But…,” a hard-charging heatseeker that looks at American imperialism from the point of an invaded nation. Sane and his co-conspirators then proceed to attack everything from CNN to the World Trade Organization to, of course, the U.S. war machine. Those who’ve been with Anti-Flag since the beginning will be relieved to hear the band’s aggression level is at an all-time high, with songs ricocheting from Dischord-issue post-hardcore (“Exodus”) to crusty thrash (“Depleted Uranium Is A War Crime”) to garageland rock (“Hymn For The Dead”). As for dogmatists who’ll argue the message matters more than the music, well, Anti-Flag’s obviously decided that joining the system doesn’t mean you stop working to change it. In a more just world, the revolution would start here.
(RCA/A-F) Mike Usinger



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