:: Anti-Flag - The Bright Lights Of America

Anti-Flag

Controversy is something Pittsburgh based punk rock act Anti-Flag have gotten used to throughout their long twenty year history. Whether it’s their political or social views, their signing up to a major label or their continual move away from their hardcore roots, Anti-Flag have managed to gain as many fans as they have lost with every new release. Returning with their eighth full-length release ‘The Bright Lights Of America’, the four piece act have once again attempted to take a step forward in terms of sound and vision, with the help of producer Tony Visconti (who has previously worked with David Bowie, Morrissey and T. Rex). But as bold as their vision was, ‘The Bright Lights Of America’ falls a little short of its target.

‘Good And Ready’ is certainly new ground for the band. The band’s melodic punk rock roots are still well and truly firmly in place, but it’s vast array of extras featured in the background that push the band’s sound out to regions previously unexplored (such as a children’s choir, huge bells and a host of percussive instruments). The socially aware title track ‘The Bright Lights Of America’ treads familiar Anti-Flag territory with their trademark infectious chorus structures and anthem like feel. Following on in similar fashion is ‘The Modern Rome Burning’, ‘Smartest Bomb’, ‘No Warning’, the chaotic speed of ‘Spit In The Face’ and the epic closer ‘The Ink And The Quill’.

Unfortunately, not all of the album is quite up to the same level of quality of the above mentioned tracks. As solid as ‘Vices’, ‘We Are The Lost’ and ‘Go West’ are, they’re all a little too slick, rock radio orientated and detached from Anti-Flag’s old sound, while ‘If You Wanna Steal’, ‘Shadow Of The Dead’ and the folk based ‘Tar And Sagebrush’ (The unlisted bonus track) just fall short of sounding truly completed. ‘The Bright Lights Of America’ is a bit of a hit and a miss affair, with the album sounding more like a jumbled collection of ideas, rather than a cohesive whole. But given the controversies that have followed Anti-Flag throughout the years, it will be hardly surprising to find that this album has as many supporters as it does detractors.