I had been thinking about writing this article on Against Me! for about a week now, but I decided I'd wait until I had the new album in my hands. From the songs I'd heard from it, I expected to be writing about how another band hand been claimed by the soul sucking major label curse, writing songs that are 90% chorus and 10% verse. But, I thought I'd give the new album a listen before I started to prattle on about how great they used to be and how mediocre modern rock they are now.

Against Me! has undergone quite the change musically and lyrically since they started as Tom Gabel and a drummer. "Crime," their first real, non-shitty release, was blistering acoustic folk-punk, with Tom screaming through songs like What We Worked For, and Impact, which is one of the single greatest songs you could ever hope to see live (especially in a tiny hot room in Houston after the band hasn't played it in years).

"Crime" segued easily into "Reinventing Axl Rose," which long-time readers of this blog will know is one of my absolute favorite albums of all time. It's all dirty anarchistic punk rock. It sounds like it was recorded at a party in the basement, and its lyrical content is absolutely some of the best I've ever heard. From "Pints of Guinness" about Tom's grandparents' deaths ("If we're never together, if I'm never back again, I swear to God that I'll love you forever") to We Laugh at Danger ("And I cannot help but hold on to a handful of times, when what was spoken was a revolution in itself, and what we were doing was the only thing that mattered. And how good it felt to kill the memory of nights spent holding your shirt for the smell. I heard you used to cry when you made love to him. This band will play on. Because all we can do is what we've always done"). From I Still Love You Julie ("Last night a room full drunk sang along to the songs I never had the courage to write. Given the chance I'd stay in this chorus forever, where everything ugly in this world is sadly beautiful in our desperate memories") to the title track ("We want a band that plays loud and hard every night. That doesn't care how many people are counted at the door. That would travel one million miles and ask for nothing but a plate of food and a place to rest. They'd strike chords that cut like a knife. It would mean so much more than a t-shirt or ticket stub. They would stop at nothing short of a massacre. Everyone would leave with the memory that there was no place else in the world and this was where they always belonged"). The entire album captures what every young outcast feels. The EP "The Disco Before the Breakdown" (AKA: The Single Best EP EVER!) then gave us three amazing songs, including Tonight We're Gonna Give it 35%, which at various points in my life has been the best song ever written by anyone, ever.

In hindsight, now that Against Me! is on a major label, their production is glossed up, and people know who they are, songs like Baby, I'm An Anarchist and Reinventing Axl Rose have hurt their credibility with the punk scene, because they've changed their opinions and musical style so much. No more acoustic guitars and screamed vocals, no more songs about playing basement shows and feeling out of place. But first, there was "...As the Eternal Cowboy," which plugged AM! into an amp and turned that amp up to about 30. "Cowboy" is an amazing punk rock album that starts with the headbanging right out of the gate and continues that momentum to the end, even though a couple of pretty breather songs.

The next album, Searching for a Former Clarity, was the album that first started to divide their fan base. To me, it's a sprawling masterpiece that is the most diverse set they've put to tape to this day. Not every song works (Justin), but most do, and some (the title track, Violence, Even At Our Worst, etc) are some of the best songs they've made. But it's a rock album, not a punk album, and the "scene" started getting worried.

The "scene" left when they heard "New Wave," the first major label release. Partly, I can't blame them. The anarcho-punks who screamed against the system were now a part of it, so the kids who care more about ethos than music had to bail. And partly, I can't blame them because the music wasn't as good. There were a couple absolute winners (New Wave, Thrash Unreal), but overall the quality of songs here isn't as strong. I don't think anyone's going to be counting Piss and Vinegar or Americans Abroad amongst the great songs that this band has done. Another concerning thing about the album is that lyrically it's pretty weak. They did songs about the music business on Clarity, and they retread that theme here to less effect.

Which brings me to today. Going into "White Crosses" my expectations were low. Having listened to it constantly since yesterday afternoon, I am pretty much blown away. It explodes out of the gates with "White Crosses" and "I Was A Teenage Anarchist," both chorus heavy songs, but both faster and harder and more straightforward than the majority of "New Wave." Then - a piano - and my heart sinks, until the guitars kick in and Because of the Shame blasts out at me and it's one of the single best songs AM! has ever done. An emotionally honest and touching song about going to an ex-girlfriend's funeral and the memories it brings back. Suffocation follows, and it's a pretty straightforward rock song with a simple chorus, but it works. We're Breaking Up is a forgettable mid tempo ballad that would have been better left off. High Pressure Low picks things back up for another straightforward rocker before Ache With Me takes us into a middle of the road acoustic jam. Spanish Moss then rocks, and Rapid Decompression becomes the hardest song they've done since Cowboy. Bamboo Bones as the closer deserves its own sentence, because it is the most inspirational song AM! have done in years, and maybe one of the ten best songs they've ever written ("What god doesn’t give to you, you’ve got to go and get for yourself").

There are also four bonus tracks on my album that are all good additions, and really should have replaced We're Breaking Up and Ache With Me on the album proper. "White Crosses" really surprised me. The middle sags a bit, but it is a far, far stronger effort than "New Wave." The production is too polished for a punk rock band, but then, this isn't really a punk band anymore, and the music sounds very "full." Lyrically and musically it's a step up from "New Wave," and I find my love and admiration for these guys renewed in full. Well done.