Reviews

The second full-length from Virginia’s Strike Anywhere is a breath of fresh air into the punk scene. I managed to score this album a month and a half before the release date (Sept 30), and highly recommend it. This album picks up exactly where their first record, “Change is a Sound,” left off—with resonating, fist-pumping anthems for the world. This album is highly political, without coming off trite and forced like many bands that only use political lyrics. They stress unity and dissent; thinking and performing as an individual in a society which conformity and consent have become synonymous with patriotism. Standout tracks include “To the World,” which screams out “I pledge allegiance to the world, nothing more, nothing less than my humanity,” a powerful message that together we are all human in a time where our differences are stressed and exploited for ends which do not align with our own shared responsibility as human beings. “The Fifth Estate” begins with the Strike Anywhere trademark whoa-oh’s and lashes out with only a minute and twenty seconds of anger, screaming “Our own truth.” The lyrics have become more poetic as well, for example “wrap the silences around me” and “look how the ruts stick to my footsteps,” showing a depth of thought unfound on the first full length. This is a great record, and fan of punk music or music in general owes it to themselves to give it a listen.