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Album review: Propagandhi – ‘At Peace’

By Alex Goose

Eight years on from their last record, Canada's finest return on superb form!

First, a warning – although I’ve been lucky enough to see Propagandhi live a handful of times over the last couple of decades, I haven’t been great at keeping up with them on record, so you’ll have to forgive the relative lack of comparisons to their previous work. Here begins a somewhat casual Propagandhi fan’s (rare, eh?) perspective on ‘At Peace’. Please don’t put me in the stocks if I get this one wrong, folks. Your statutory rights are not affected.

The great thing about the Canadian quartet is that they’ve evolved musically over the years, whilst remaining unmistakably themselves. It’s been nearly a quarter-century since they released my personal favourite of theirs, 2001’s ‘Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes’, and although they’ve since eased up on the 100mph thrash-tinged hardcore assaults of, say, ‘Fuck The Border’, ‘At Peace’ absolutely does not see the band mellowing out at all. Nor would we want them to.

You may well have already seen the videos for the title track and ‘Cat Guy’. The latter track is described by vocalist/guitarist Chris Hannah as him trying to capture “a little bit of Judas Priest’s ‘Firepower’ LP as if SNFU’s Chi-Pig was writing the lyrics”, and indeed, few bands manage to infuse punk rock with razor-sharp metal riffs and biting social commentary as successfully as Propagandhi continue to do. Gems like ‘Rented P.A.’, with its nimble-fingered soloing, and the relentless chugging guitars of ‘Prismatic Spray (The Tinder Date)’ will also have you hooked; they sound huge enough on record, so they’ll probably utterly destroy live.

As with fellow Canadians Dutch Nuggets’ (who’ve clearly taken inspiration from Propagandhi) latest, perhaps a bit of editing wouldn’t have gone amiss. The quality control is high, but I can’t help but wonder if there’s an excellent 30-35 minute record lurking somewhere within the very good 48 minutes of ‘At Peace’. Again, though, that may well be because I’m way too easily distracted these days; goodness knows Propagandhi have probably already written (or will write) a song about our collective inability to focus.

Now approaching their 40th anniversary, Propagandhi remain as restless and relevant as ever. Contrary to what the title of their second record – 1997’s ‘Less Talk, More Rock’ – might suggest, ‘At Peace’ reminds us that it’s perfectly possible to eloquently and directly address the state of the world whilst also rocking out to a degree that would put many a metal band to shame. Times like these need bands like Propagandhi, and here, as ever, they haven’t let us down.

  1. Guiding Lights
  2. At Peace
  3. Cat Guy
  4. No Longer Young
  5. Rented P.A.
  6. Stargazing
  7. God Of Avarice
  8. Prismatic Spray (The Tinder Date)
  9. Benito’s Earlier Work
  10. Vampires Are Real
  11. Fire Season
  12. Day By Day
  13. Something Needs To Die But Maybe It’s Not You
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