Propagandhi - Supporting Caste
Rating
RIYL
NOFXBad Religion
Lagwagon
Voivod
Release Date
03/10/2009
Label
G7 Welcoming CommitteeTracklist
01.Night Letters02.Supporting Caste
03.Tertium Non Datur
04.Dear Coach's Corner
05.This is Your Life
06.Human(e) Meat (The Flensing of Sandor Katz)
07.Potemkin City Limits
08.The Funeral Procession
09.Without Love
10.Incalcuable Effects
11.The Bangers Embrace
12.Last Will & Testament
13.Come To The Sabbat (Bonus Track)
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If you call yourself a punk, by now you should know who our Canadian brothers in Propaghandi are. If you don’t, then maybe you should bow out of the scene gracefully. Their relevance in punk stretches all the way back to 1986 and they have done nothing but progress throughout the past 23 years. These guys are no strangers to activism and always take a vigorous stance on many subjects. Not only are they in complete support of the vegan lifestyle and animal rights, but Propaghandi also take on political and social issues such as racism, sexism, homophobia, fascism, capitalism and religion. After a few years of burning the candle at both ends of punk and metal, Propaghandi are back with their classic punk sound on their latest full-length venture Supporting Caste.
Stepping away from the label they have called home for over a decade, Propaghandi decided to release Supporting Caste on Smallman Records and their very own G7 Welcoming Committee. The album opens up and releases pure energy on the first track “Night Letters” and pours every ounce of sweat right onto the following track, which shares the same name as the album. The next attention grabber is "Dear Coach’s Corner” which starts with a clip of the gentleman the track is geared to set assault upon, host of Hockey Night in Canada Ron MacLean. Prompt thrash riffs lead to a slew of questions that Mr. MacLean is expected to answer due to all of his Nazi/Nuremburg accusations. Next in line for a verbal spanking is underground food icon Sandor Katz. The track "Human(e) Meat (The Flensing of Sandor Katz)" rips the "post-vegetarian" for his take on cruelty-free meat, calling out the hypocrisy of the fermentation obsessed “activist”.
It's not all orations on vegan and political matters that Propaghandi harp on. In "Incalculable Effects" lyrics like, "Her life goes on despite the fact. Her mom lays fucked up on the cement. It's an ugly fucking world," paint the sad picture of a six-year-old trying to come to terms with living under the custody of an addict, little by little having her purity crushed from the inside out.
Musically the album is near perfect. Propaghandi have managed to get back to their roots while adding some of the progressive metal they incorporated into their last few albums, making the album an aggressive, yet melodic, delight to listen to. It should also be noted that this is the first Propaghandi album with a second guitarist on the band's roster. Supporting Caste is chock-full of tasty riffs and fast-paced drum work that is fused together with a vocal delivery only punk rock veterans like Propaghandi are capable of. While the lyrical content is always serious, there is often a strong sense of sarcasm.
This album exemplifies all that is punk rock. These outspoken, middle-aged, Canadian vegans have yet again outdone themselves and set the bar in their genre. Word of advice, if you fancy yourself some punk, buy this album.
--Bill Lohr
Comments
Atascadero, CA
definitely digging this but what was once maybe a 4 has dropped a tad to a 3.5.. not sure the replay value of this yet.
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Lehigh Valley, PA
Aaron, I know what ya mean but I can't stop listening to it. I don't know what it is. I feel like this is one of the best punk albums I have listened to in a long time.
VT
I don't really dig deep into the punk rock scene, but Propagandhi is one of those bands for me that is always an exception. I've always enjoyed their material.
My Top Songs of '09
The Appleseed Cast//as the little things go
Caspian//sycamore
Sunwrae//Chinook Winds
Dredg//down to the seller
If These Trees Could Talk//the sun is in the north
From Monument to Masses//an ounce of prevention
Straylight Run//i'm through with the past
LpShinobi's Post-Rock and Shoegazing Recommendation, via YouTube
Lpshinobi's Post-Rock Band, New Song Posted
Markham, ON
Haven't heard the album yet, but what you said about "Dear Coach's Corner" got me interested and I looked into the song; it's actually about Don Cherry, Ron McLean's sidekick, and there's really no Nazi anything outside of a metaphor. It's calling Don Cherry out about always talking about the war and Canadian troops during the intermissions between periods of hockey games; basically how he's using hockey to preach about the war.
P.S. This is what the alphabet would look like if you removed Q and R.
Lehigh Valley, PA
I guess you need to listen to the song to understand what I'm saying, especially since the opening line is "Dear Ron MacLean. Dear Coach's Corner.
I'm writing in order, for someone to explain..." The whole song is addressed to MacLean. In an interview, Chris Hannah explained the entire song, discussing how the song is directed towards both Cherry and MacLean, but only addressed to MacLean because of how loud-mouthed, immature and irrational Don Cherry is. Hannah discusses how sometimes MacLean can be the "voice of reason" but at the same can add fuel to Cherry's fire. Trust me man, being a Propagandhi and hockey fan I know this, but there is way too much background to provide on just one track when I have an entire album to review.
Waterloo, Ontario
I love this album and i'm not really into punk anymore either. Good rating, good review.
Top Ten of 2009 http://www.decoymusic.com/users/3747/top_tens/2009
Alabama
I just keep coming back to this album! Speaking of "Dear Coach's Corner," it has to be my favorite track on the album.