On their fifth album,
Anti-Flag position themselves as punk's foremost peace activists. And with the 2004 Presidential election looming at the time of its release, the Pittsburgh quartet's delivery of
The Terror State couldn't have been better timed. Aiming fourteen aural bombs straight at George W. Bush, the group's incendiary musical charge is heightened by the contagious sloganeering of mouthpiece Justin Sane. "Turncoat" launches the disc, with the frontman painting Dubya as a war-happy liar. Escorted by an infectious chorus that even the staunchest Republicans would have trouble resisting, the fast, declarative tune makes way for alluring numbers like "Tearing Down the Borders," and the expansive "Death of a Nation." The latter -- structured around a 40-year old
Woody Guthrie lyric -- bears both the sonic and the non-conformist political influence of the disc's executive producer, Rage Against the Machine guitarist
Tom Morello. At
Morello's suggestion,
Pearl Jam engineer
Nick DiDia was brought in to give
The Terror State its large and full sound. And judging by spirited, percolating items like "Mind the G.A.T.T." and "You Can Kill the Protestor," Anti-Flag's controversial messages are matched with volatile yet affable arrangements. Sure, its never-ending protest tact gets a little redundant after a while (even
the Clash had a love song here and there), but questioning the motives of world leaders through the forum of punk is something will never go out of style. ~ John D. Luerssen