The punk band Anti-Flag has released a new album: “The Lies They Tell Our Children.” The band has been making music for 34 years, so they obviously have a tad bit of experience composing and writing music. The album was made to extend on their previous album, “20/20 Vision.” The new album, as a whole, was deemed very important by the band as it has a myriad of guests and the first time in 12 years where the band as a whole worked on it together for a cohesive experience. 

One big part of this album is the eight guest musicians including the punk artist Brian Baker and the punk band Pinkshift. The guests have massively influenced the general style of the music. Anti-Flag generally has an aggressive, thrash style. However, with the guests, the music calms down a ton and takes on more of an ambient style. The song “Sold Everything” is a key example of their music being more ambient with the acoustic guitar. The calmer style sounds pleasing to the ears, but when the band is talking about rioting, death and exploitation, the more aggressive thrash style fits much better.

In the band’s 34 years of making music, their message has always been consistent. They are heavily anti-war and promote freedom to all. “The Lies They Tell Our Children” is no exception. The album breathes the fact that it is an anti-war statement. From the actions of oppression from China on Taiwan and Vietnam, all the way to the Russo-Ukrainian war, this album talks about horrors on the civilians and the oppressed. The song “Victory or Death (We Gave them Hell)” says that despite all the struggles, people must go on and try to make the world a better place. This message is repeated over and over through the entire album, showing how important it is to Anti-Flag.

The album heavily leans into the anti-war sentiment of not only the present, but also the past. The Europeans conquering, invading and stealing resources is a main focus of the song “Imperialism.” The band makes a very clear statement on their thoughts of the actions from the Europeans in Africa — that it was absolutely atrocious and maimed many societies.  

Even though the style of the music sometimes clashes against the topic and themes in the album, the music still has its moments that thrash against the ears. For example, in “Only in my Head,” the song has an aggressive bass that works with the drums to create a fast tempo. Everything except the singing has a layer of distortion, making the song more intense. These are the moments where the music and content come together to a concise product with both the style of music and lyrics matching up and sounding absolutely fantastic.

The songs in this album that work the best are the ones that lean into the more aggressive style. However, the calm music can be just as good, with good choruses with the occasional chant. 

In conclusion, the album sounds good, but the styling and the general sound just don’t match the content. Fans of Rise Against, Bad Religion and Muse will like “The Lies They Tell Our Children.”

“The Lies They Tell Our Children:” ★★★★☆