Anti-Flag - For Blood and Empire

Capitalism, American democracy, The Man. These are just some of the things that Justin Sane and Anti-Flag want you to ponder over whilst experiencing their latest noise-fest masterpiece, 'For Blood and Empire'. "Pah!" you might think, "just some more pretentious punk-rockers with a 'political' message to stab Dubya and his gang in the proverbial back." Well, you'd be right about the message, but you'd be dead wrong about the pretension. Silly names aside, these lads are deadly serious about their politics and their music. 'For Blood and Empire' welcomely lacks the expected airs of teen angst and toilet humour so explicit in your common contemporary act of a similar aesthetic, instead, what Justin Sane and the rest of the Flag crew have gone for here is verging on Refused territory. Conspiracy theory-inducing lyrics and straight up, ballsy punk-rock will surely cement 'For Blood and Empire' as one of the most effecting political albums of 2006. [Paul Traynor]