JiggyJay's Full Review: Terror State [PA] by Anti-Flag
I’ve been a fan of Anti-Flag for as long as I remember. They have to be one of the coolest punk rock bands of all time for their mind-blowing political lyrics, fast paced catchiness, and angry vocals. Their last album, Underground Network, was awesome just enough to get me into their music and I loved it so I was very excited to see when their next album was going to come out (which eventually was Mobilize). Since the ferocious velocity of the two CDs, I had high hopes and high expectations for their next record, but really didn’t know what to expect. When I first heard word of Anti-Flag’s new CD, The Terror State, being released on Fat Wreck Chords (and not on their own record company, A-F Records) I was very excited and knew that when it came out I wanted to be the first one in line to buy it and that time came and a couple weeks later after I listened it some more, my expectations weren’t met, but I am still very impressed with Anti-Flag’s newest outing and hopefully by the end of this review you will feel the same way, my friends.
Anti-Flag is a four-person band straight out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that started as a three-person one with their debut record, Die For The Government. Think of Against All Authority just minus the Ska influence and a little more of the Black Flag theme. Anti-Flag is adrenaline infused punk rock with a hardcore edge. Unlike a lot of punk rock bands these days, all of Anti-Flag’s songs are dedicated to dissing the government and criticizing everything our country has to stand for. Now that the Iraq war has broken out (since April/May), Anti-Flag had a much more broad range of lyrical values they could meld into their music.
Justin Sane (who went to do a solo project last year with his album, Life, Love, and The Pursuit Of Justice) heads the band with his amazing guitar solos and heart wrenching, aggressive vocals, but this time around he takes back seat while Chris #2 does most of the vocal work (along with his wicked bass playing). Now, Chris had a couple songs that he sang on Underground Network and Mobilize, but in The Terror State, a good half of the album is devoted to him, which I didn’t like at all. He’s a good vocalist, but doesn’t at all match Justin’s talents. Chris “Gave Me” Head is the other guitarist and back up vocalist of the band and does a really good job as usual while Pat Thetic is the drummer (and always has been). Pat Thetic is probably one of the best punk rock drummers of all time and he proves it with some of the stuff he did on The Terror State, but he’s done much better.
I bought The Terror State on the Fat Wreck website for $10 (which also came with a free patch and a poster for a dollar more) and was very surprised when it got here and I opened it. Sort of like in Twiztid’s The Green Book, the CD is in a slip-in case with a real case under it with a booklet inside. The booklet is really awesome with hand scrawled lyrics to fit right with guns or bullets and similar military crap. Almost all of the lyrics in the booklet are followed by the explanations and meanings for each specific track. At the last page of the booklet shows the credits as well as the thank you’s. The booklet is just good because it’s fun to read the meanings of the songs. You feel as if you know what the band thinks like.
Anti-Flag tried a lot of new things with The Terror State. They tried to incorporate some jazz elements, some metal themes, and even some alternative rocks stuff. I don’t like how much this CD is so experimental because I liked the band’s older stuff like their work on A New Kind Of Army. The sound that you will encounter when you first turn on the record will intimidate you and really make you afraid to listen to the rest of the CD. I was very put off and disappointed at first listen, but once I actually listened to it, read all of the lyrics, and listened to it some more I slowly fell in love with the album even if I don’t think this is a truly amazing album. They just tried too many new things and left their old sound in the dust and I’m sure that avid fans of theirs will surely be disappointment, but I’m not. I’m actually happy with my purchase of this record.
Rank-N-File is probably the one track on the record that actually sounds like old school Anti-Flag. This is also probably my favorite song on the record due to the friggin’ catchier than crap melody and chorus. Justin Sane’s voice is full of fury and his same snotty, punk rock tone that he’s famous for. The song’s lyrics are also really sweet and some of the best of the CD. The guitar riffs that go on in the song are pretty catchy by their goddam selves along with the bass backing it up. The drums aren’t fast paced, but their not slow either. They are just a little tame. Rank-N-File is awesome, ‘nuff said. Another favorite song of mine is Post War Breakout, which is the Jazz influenced track. The guitar riffs that get strummed in the song are really light and Jazz inspired and you might think it might sound like it sucks but it’s actually cool. The song is actually pretty slow paced not that that’s a bad thing. The drumbeats that get pegged in the song are my favorite of the CD and are delightful and a guilty pleasure of mine to listen to. I try to play them but fail miserably. My favorite part of the song is when Justin Sane tries to do his best Carlos Santana impression close to the end of the song.
Number eleven is Death Of A Nation and really sounds like some AFI song. The way that it’s played out is like that of AFI, which sort of annoyed me at first, but then I felt as if it was a cross of a P.O.D. song I had heard once. I actually like this song, though. The song is sort of hard and different from all of the other songs on the CD and really has Chris #2 singing his heart out with a lot of good guitar strumming and bass lines. The drums, though, aren’t the best, but they do get the job done to some extent. Operation Iraqi Liberation (O.I.L.) is another song that has old school Anti-Flag shining through the experimental themes, but you can still see the band testing out some new ideas like Justin’s new way of singing (actually singing) and different, raw ways of playing guitar and bass. The drums are pretty slow as well like Pat’s talents are wasted. The lyrics as you might tell are very political and probably my favorite of the CD. I think this was the song that A-F released a couple months back when the war was announced.
”Rank-N-File” (Lyric Sampler)
I’m standing with my rank-n-file I’m marching with the underground Our black hearts worn on our sleeves Let my imagination go and drop me where I feel most scared Snap back already giving thanks I’m not trapped working in a sweatshop
”Operation Iraqi Liberation (O.I.L.)”
To save you we may have to kill you For freedom you may have to die #1 at liberation Liberating life from bodies Helping spirits fly… Freedom…from life The government lies The masses die
If you are a huge fan of punk rock or a huge fan of Anti-Flag, maybe you’ll like The Terror State and I recommend it to you if you want to try something different, but I can’t fully recommend a CD to someone that’s as weird or different as The Terror State. There are a lot of new ideas and the band really explored some good ones, but personally, I wish they had just kept their old sound that they became famous for on the likes of Underground Network and A New Kind Of Army. I also wish that Justin Sane had remained lead vocalist because he’s the coolest in the band and I think that Chris #2 was just being a glory hog with this album. If you want a fast paced punk rock record that’s a little different from what you might expect then give The Terror State a chance. As for me, I like it and hopefully if you give it a shot, you might like it as well.
1. Turncoat
2. Rank-N-File
3. Post-War Breakout
4. Sold As Freedom
5. Power To The Peaceful
6. Mind The G.A.T.T.
7. You Can Kill The Protestor, But You Can’t Kill The Protest
8. When You Don’t Control Your Government People Want To Kill You
9. Wake Up!
10. Tearing Down The Borders
11. Death Of A Nation
12. Operation Iraqi Liberation (O.I.L.)
13. One People, One Struggle
14. (Bonus Track) Fuxk The Flag
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
![Terror State [PA] by Anti-Flag](http://di1.shopping.com/images1/pi/33/e4/8d/2005252374-177x150-0-0.jpg)
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.