Picked this album up when the band played St. Louis the weekend before the election and finally got the time to sit down and take it all in.  On Failed States Propagandhi unleash a powerful statement of guitar driven heaviness that finds them drawing heavily from thrash metal and experimental sounds to create songs that manage to walk a fine line between melody and unrelenting ferocity.  Full of hard wall of overdrive guitars and a fair share of guitar solos, the band takes on the forces that control our lives mentioning such topics as the prevalence of war in history, alienation, the oppression of punks in Aceh Indonesia (and emo kids in Iraq), interpersonal conflict, and more in matters that connect the personal with the political.  The band's more metal leanings have been sharpened here, thus furthering their hybride of punk/HC and thrash into an unstoppable sonic force.  This band has come a long way in the last 20 years but remains one of the giding lights for socially and politically aware punk.  Get this album - if yu haven't done so already.  (BOONE)

(Epitaph Records)