Reviews

The new propagandhi is in my possession. I need to change my shorts.
 
In 1993, Propagandhi released their first full length, how to clean everything. Three years later, Less Talk More Rock came out.  Five years later we got Todays Empires, Tomorrows’ Ashes. And now, four and a half years later, Potempkin City Limits is here.  The long stretches in the middle have kept Propagandhi fans impatient but happy because they don’t release the same album over and over again.
 
Twelve years later, they aren’t recycling chord progressions and vocal melodies the way bands like Bad Religion, No Use For a Name, or Pennywise have become disappointing later in their careers. When John Sampson left for the Weakerthans after Less Talk… Propagandhi’s sound changed to a more hardcore sound. That sound is still here on the new album, but the sloppy thrash and ranging arpeggios have been in places replaced by cleaner metal riffs and more glimpses of the fast punk rock sound that put them on the map. 
 
The lyrics remain the best political lyrics in music: smart, fast, and scathing. They make their stance look obvious and compelling instead of embarrassing and whiny the way bands like anti-flag can totally ruin their own cause. His voice is familiar, yet slightly different.  It doesn’t scratch at the top of his scale anymore, instead he seems to have found a note he could sing and hit and goes to that constantly.  In a couple songs it even gets a little repetitive melodically, but it only sticks out because its one of the few differences in his vocal delivery. He also gets all his lyrics into the riff this time, as opposed to a couple songs on Empires where he took a page from Jello Biafra and just kept singing over the change. The screaming is scaled back substantially and the melodic a little bit more featured alongside the traditional shouting style.
 
All in all, this is a good album and well worth the wait.  Go buy it.