Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 01:18 AM by Lilliana Tseka
Genre: Punk Rock/Metal
Country: Canada
Label: Epitaph Records
Year: 2017
“In general I would say that we’re headed for a societal collapse, and I’m not even sure that’s a bad thing in the long term. I have this strong intuition that the elephant in the room is civilization itself.[…] I don’t want people to think it’s fine to do nothing on the way to the end […]” – Chris Hannah
Victory Lap of a failed modern human society nearing its impending doom, or of the “godlike” manipulative forces that lead us to the brink of total societal collapse(which are no others but ourselves)?
Propagandhi is a tough band to project onto the musical map. Wanting to distinguish themselves from their pop/skate-punk siblings during the 90’s, they paved their own path by dressing their hardcore punk and metal influenced compositions with radical political commentary few bands dared to touch upon. Ostracized by punks and metal-heads alike, they formulated a unique approach to the DIY punk ethos.
Victory Lap, their seventh full length album, finds the band with a renewed lineup, with guitarist David “Beaver” Guillas (ex-Giant Sons) being replaced by fellow SG rocker Sulynn Hago (for the touring part at least, both contributed to the new record). Departing from the dense and relentless, both musical and lyrical, style of Failed States, the new record is musically more spacious and melodic. But the melodies and punk/metal riffs sometimes reminiscent of older days should not catch you off-guard, as the oblique lyrics transcend a bitter mood of a man fed-up with modern society and deeply hurt by its prospective future.
Covering issues ranging from white supremacy, male privilege and animal rights to self-illuminating thoughts regarding sacrifice, selflessness and moral legacy, the depressive comicality of the current state of affairs is prevalent throughout the record. While previous records had more “themed” tracks, Victory Lap is mostly formulated in a more spontaneous, train-of-thought fashion.
Todd Kowalski’s intricate baselines and Jord Samolesky’s well-balanced drum work perfectly support the complex and melodic metal/punk riffage that engulf Chris Hannah’s sometimes aggressive, always scathing, wry, defiant lyrics, leading to an involuntary head-banging syndrome. Furthermore, Todd handles the singing task in the more “in your face”, self-critical tracks, resembling the voice of an infuriated consciousness. Less metallic than Failed States, this album exchanges some anger with bitterness and disappointment towards the human-attributable impending “planetary self-immolation”.
If you want to feel the excitement of a 17 year-old combined with the emotional burden of an “ordinary” middle-aged man that has failed his children, his wife, his ideas, himself, then Victory Lap is the record for you …because what would this man do rather than laughing and weeping amidst a furious punk rock mosh-pit?
6/6
