Anti-Flag - Their System Doesn't Work for You
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Free Music Notes for Their System Doesn't Work for You
Free Music Review: Real Anti-Flag Albums
Hit: 5 Stars
This cd as just as good, if not better than Die for the Government. None of the less this is a keep in real punk music, their classic.Free Music Review: I will gladly pay you tomorrow for a slogan today
Hit: 1 Stars
I suppose this is the ideal forum to express a general survey of disenchantment and dissatisfaction with Anti-Flag's backcatalog as a whole...I simply remember "Their System" being a pile of musically inept, and lyrically heavy-handed trash. There was a pocket of time (between 2001-2004, I'd say), where Anti-Flag's albums had a solid spot in my CD player--I couldn't hear enough "f*ck the government/anti-Republican/pro-anarchic idealism" messages; I shunned my Industrial-music roots in favor of Anti-Flag, Dead Kennendys, Circle Jerks, and the like. Yet, at 25, I've become so politically disenfranchised and conscientious of punk's ideological contradictions (as others have pointed out, 'Kill the Rich' is one hypocritical example) that I find it damn near impossible to find any value in the music anymore. Even the one-sided, idealistic ramblings of Jello Biafra (once my compulsive Gospel) have become intolerable. Upon outgrowing the ideology of punk, I became keenly aware of its contradictive sustenance--for all the time bands spend raging against the government, it is that very government that provides it with such a marketable, readily-consumed outrage. Hypothetically, were the government to fold and all human beings lay down their guns and differences to favor a utopian solution, all of 'punk' would be put out to pasture. Is that the point? Achieve World Peace, then retire to Florida with a BMW and dog en tow? Ultimately, Anti-Flag makes the notion of revolution more fashionable than feasible; while 'catchy,' the songs are extremely heavy-handed in terms of vocal delivery and lyrics (the sledgehammer doesn't hit more heavily than a chorus of, say, "Don't keep a gun in your house!"). Even more so on their recent albums, the 'message' has become dominant, dropping the same anvils of rebellion and free-thinking down on our heads, song after song. That all of this is a marketing ploy mounted on sloganeering becomes apparent the more you listen, which will result in one of two outcomes: 1) abandonment of punk altogether; or 2) a destiny of writing Alpha-Elite reviews on Amazon.com, bitching about the 'good old days' of True Punk Rock. At this point, the idealists annoy me just as much as the elitists, and I have no desire to be associated with either side. Peace out.Free Music Review: I Really the Title Track..............
Hit: 2 Stars
......"Their System Doesn't Work For You" is a good song. Pretty much every other song on here is garbage. Don't buy it.Free Music Review: Half and half
Hit: 2 Stars
This album is actually kind of a split. The first half consists of songs from "North America Sucks," which was an awesome Anti-Flag CD that went out of print. The other half deserves to be out of print. The first 9 songs on the CD are excellent, classic Anti-Flag. The best are the very funny and very true "Indie Sucks, Hardline Sucks, Emo Sucks, You Suck" and the bitter raging post-hardcore of "You'll Scream Tonight." Unfortunately, the greatness wears off quickly. The last 10 songs are amelodic tuneless rants against nothing in particular that go on way too long even when they're only 2 minutes long. Most of them were recorded live, and the sound quality is terrible. They were obviously recorded before Anti-Flag knew what direction they wanted to take as a band, and songs like "I'm Feeling Slightly Violent" fly in the face of their later peace-promoting message. The skacore beat of "Betty Sue Is Dead" is the only redemption on the second half of the album, but even it's not enough to get Their System Doesn't Work For You any more than a 2 star rating. Pick this up if you're a hardcore A-F fan, but if not, go straight to A New Kind Of Army.Free Music Review: A sad disappointment
Hit: 2 Stars
I am a casual Anti-Flag listener and enjoyed Die For Your Government, New Kind of Army, and The Terror State. I had been searching for Their System Doesn't Work For You for a long time now, and when I finally got it I was very excited.However, after managing to listen to the whole thing by sheer forced faith in Anti-Flag, this CD has left me very disheartened. Justin's vocals on the first 9 tracks could make someone's ears bleed, and meanwhile the intrumentation on the last 10 tracks is terrible.
The CD's biggest fault is engineering. Though it does have a nice "live" feel, the overall sound quality is more painful to listen to. For example, "Can't Stand Being with You" and "There System Doesn't Work for You" would be excellent songs, but Justin's vocals lack reverb and polish, and the recordings are hard to listen to.
Overall, the album shows the promise of Anti-Flag that they would later go on to fulfill, and the songs are great, but the severe lack of polish and shine coupled with some extremely painful recording make this album only worthwhile to die hard fans.