Search - Anti-Flag :: The Bright Lights of America

I hate being let down by albums

Nathan E. Haag | souf jers | 05/24/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I've been a fan of AF since I was a wee 8th grader. I have every album, I've seen them every time they've been in philly (over 10 times). I'm not trying to brag, I just want to lend some perspective on my review. Anti-Flag has been my favorite band for over ten years, but now I feel let down. I was so excited for this cd. I was completely cool with them signing to RCA and I really do like For Blood and Empire. Then they had the Victims of Violent Crime ep, which was also awesome. So I figured, "hey, the next one has got to be great." Unfortunately, this is not the case.



The songs are not only overly long, they have no imagination. There are seemingly no verses in some songs. I feel like they just wrote a few chords, threw a terrible chorus over it and called it a song. "vices" looks like someone just hit copy and paste four (million) times.



We all have our vices

we all have our flaws

we all have our anger

we all have our love



There must have been a deadline or something because this album feels totally rushed. And really, I love when bands throw in new instruments and stuff, but they just don't work here. The guitars are lacking to the point where I'm sitting there aurally searching for riffs and hooks.



Obviously im very disappointed and I hope they go back to being anti-flag. I would seriously be surprised if radio junkies actually liked this. I hate having cds that let me down, cuz its like, what am I going to do with this? I could sell it, but that still wont erase the memories, only a new cd could. TAKE YOUR TIME AF! MAKE A GOOD ALBUM!"

Oh, how the dead sound so AWFULLY dead...

Renfield | Edmonton, Canada | 08/20/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Let's face it: Die For The Gov't, TSDWFY, and A New Kind of Army, as well as Underground Network are all amazing albums. The rest= all terrible. I really wanted to like Mobilize but couldn't due to it's cookie-cutter production, The Terror State is to AF what Train of Thought is to Dream Theater. And For Blood and Empire? Ugh, let's not even go there (although Emigre and I'd Tell You But... were cool songs). I've seen Anti-Flag twice (Both times opening for another band), the first time is what got me into them when they opened for Billy Talent (One of the best concerts ever). The second time was opening for Alexisonfire in December 2006 and they rocked the Shaw Conference Centre. However, all good things about Anti-Flag had to come to an end after that.



Now this atrocity has wreaked havoc in the stores everywhere. I bought this thinking it would be good, but no. Every song is laden with crappy lyrics. All the songs sound the same, with the vocals becoming weaker every track. One good thing though, is that Justin doesn't perform solos on here, which is good, because while he's a good guitarist, he ain't no Adrian Smith.



But hold that thought for a minute. Let's look at the lyrics. For the most part, they feel like they just wrote a chorus, came up with a song title, and then decided to copy and paste both the chorus and the title to fill the length of the song. But then there's the real lyrics. A Sample from "If You Wanna Steal (You Better Learn How To Die)":



"The fine line between genius and insanity

Is one he often treads so patiently

While pigs and bulls will always try to lock the door..."



Wait- did Justin just say what I think he did? No, wait, I'm gonna rewind that last line: "While Pigs and bulls will always try to lock the door." Three words: What the crap???? Doesn't Justin write clever lyrics, usually? If that ain't bad enough, here's another sample, this time, from "Tanzania", where the same line is literally repeated 4 times:



"What will it take to end the massacre?

What will it take to end the massacre?

What will it take to end the massacre?

What will it take to end the massacre?"



Why are you asking ME this, Mr. Sane? You tell ME what it'll take to end this massacre.



The music on this album is just as bad as, if worse than For Blood and Empire. The musicianship is bland and uninspired (as in unoriginal, people), as are the lyrics. And if that weren't bad enough, this is the most over-produced album I've ever heard. Child choirs, voice choirs, laughably awful keyboard orchestration, you name it. The keyboard orchestration on Iron Maiden's Dance of Death (AMAZING album- check it out, it's my 3rd favorite album of all time) worked because it made the album darker, and gave it a modern feel. Iron Maiden are metal (and my favorite band too!), Anti-Flag are punk. Keyboard orchestration works in metal, but not political punk. I know a few punk bands that use Keyboard orchestration and it works well, here it doesn't.



So if anything, this album has to be one of the most disappointing albums since Dream Theater's Train of Thought. Everything sounds forced. Chris has too many singing parts like on FBAE. As one reviewer Mentioned, if this is what the future holds for these guys, then they have indeed sold out.



(NOTE: The song "Tanzania" actually came with the online pre-order edition.)"