Taking a swipe at one of the more loaded and ubiquitous platitudes of the 2010s,
Thoughts and Prayers
sees the long-running melodic hardcore punk unit searching for truth in a world where the line between fact and fiction has become irrevocably corroded. As socially and politically charged as ever, the combustive political climate surrounding the election of Donald Trump -- he isn't mentioned outright but his distinctively coiffed shadow looms large -- helps make the band's ninth studio long-player a particularly potent outing, even if it's kind of preaching to the choir. Opening with an apt but more than a little dated
Michael Douglas
-led scene from
Oliver Stone
's 1987's drama Wall Street, "Edmund Pettus Bridge" is a fiery and darkly melodic rendering of philosopher
George Santayana
's famous warning that "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Like much of the taut, 12-track set, it feels familiar but not in an anodyne way. Like their closest sonic and spiritual contemporaries
Bad Religion
,
Russ Rankin
and company have avoided complacency and stayed true to their ideals over the years; two tenets that have been at the forefront of political punk since the late '70. There's not too much separating songs like "Our Great Divide," "Precariat," and "No King But Caesar" from the group's earlier works, which employed the same winning blend of melody and might, but there is an urgency to the new material that speaks to both the current zeitgeist and the pioneering and uncompromising spirit of punk rock. ~ James Christopher Monger