Anti-Flag

Pittsburgh's original politi-punks Anti-Flag have always boasted a rather strong Clash-meets-Billy Bragg sensibility. It hasn't, however, come across so strongly, yet uniquely, as on The People Or The Gun, an effort that finds the quartet shirking the constraints of major label tribulations and reverting back to the underground. As an album released during the band's imminent days of elder statesmen status, The People Or The Gun is everything both the band and fans could ask for. From its aggressive stance and steely delivery through to the upbeat bounce, catchy chant-alongs and intelligent standpoints, it finds the band at their most concise, incensed, cohesive and insightful. Flowing seamlessly, each track is an invigorating blast of gritty catchiness, hardcore fury, punk'n'roll grease and hooky smoothness that results in a well-rounded, captivating affair. It's a welcome surprise from a band many had written off as passed their prime before finding it in the first place.