Review Summary: Old man yells at cloud
Out of all the albums to come from Propagandhi, post 2001,
At Peace is unfortunately the weakest entry to come from this side of
Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean
At Peace is bad, more that the band fell prey to their own success. Indeed, in the last twenty-four years Propagandhi have managed to deliver five phenomenal works that continue to evolve their unique style of hard-hitting, thrash-y punk-metal. The
Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes-
Failed State run in particular really encapsulates a tempest of apoplectic and complex instrumental work battling it out with memorable hooks and articulate lyric writing, barked by a pair of fiery vocalists. This is all enshrined in what is one of the most tangibly dense atmospheres in all of punk’s colourful history. However, while
Victory Lap just so manages to maintain the same standard as its forebears, you can tell it took a great deal of exertion to match the previous records’ superlative qualities. This was largely down to
Victory Lap’s songwriting ushering in a slightly brighter tone and a more devil may care approach to songwriting, with the knock-on effect being a somewhat conciliated sound previously unheard of at that point. Being that the band were in their early-to-mid forties when they wrote that album, it’s understandable why the fire in their bellies might have dulled a bit, but the gambit to create a record focusing on
the riff and less on the energy they were known for meant we got a new era which suffered in minute ways.
Eight years later, with the guys now being in their fifties, and
At Peace doubles down on
Victory Lap’s placating approach, trading in the unfettered energy of their youth for a sound with more methodically constructed nous to it – intricate instrumental work that sits in unison with a less strenuous tempo. The trade-off has some nice benefits of course, atmosphere being one of them, but holistically the songwriting is a pretty big step down from what we’ve had in the past. For the most part
At Peace is a solid album, but it’s one of those frustrating experiences that has cool sections or parts rather than stand out tracks – lacking consistency to make tracks flourish from start to finish. For instance, “Day by Day” and “God of Averice” are nondescript efforts that go through the motions, but the prog-ish twists and turns of the former – fuelled by some neat bass fills and guitar licks – and the latter’s delay-drenched guitar passage at the mid-section and satisfying lead guitar part at the conclusion stops both songs from being outright blunders. Generally speaking, the subdued vocal style from both Chris and Todd is what does the damage here, as both vocalists lack agency and the ability to grip the listener; the melodies being sung aren’t very strong and some of the arrangements feel awkward. However, even with the vocals out of the equation, something feels a shade off with the flat-sounding production and anodyne songwriting. Tracks have a tendency to bleed into one another rather than form a crushing narrative from piece to piece.
Despite the lack of variety and sluggish energy,
At Peace is still an entertaining album. The synth and funky groove on “Stargazing” is a worthy highlight and a nice new sound to add to the band’s arsenal, while album opener “Guiding Lights” has a nice rhythmic pull to it with the guitars firing fuzzed-out needle-pricking licks over these tenebrous chugging chords. The album’s first single “At Peace” delivers the quintessential Propagandhi sound we’ve come to know and love, and album closer “Something Needs to Die But maybe it’s Not You” is a fairly strong way to finish off with, but I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t a little disappointing and a pretty substantial step down in terms of quality. Age is a lingering theme on
At Peace, touching on it with the LP’s title as well as the existential musings of “No Longer Young”, “Stargazing” and “Rented PA”, and it’s actually the most interesting aspect of the entire record for me, because Propagandhi aren’t trying to ape old glories. The band knows the years are getting away from them and
At Peace feels very much in tune with that motif. However, the point of the album is to highlight that Propagandhi might be getting old, but that doesn’t diminish their political beliefs or their ability to namedrop baby Hitler in one of their tunes, it just means age has allowed them to process and somewhat accept the world is totally fu*ked. That being said, while I can appreciate the theme here and their stance to age gracefully,
At Peace lacks the energy they are known for, with the vocals failing to step up and fill in the missing space. A decent effort, but a big drop off.
