Propagandhi - At Peace (2025) Hi-Res

The Canadian punk icons. You'll forgive Propagandhi for their lack of humor on At Peace. A lot has happened since their last album, 2017's Victory Lap, and to say that none of it has been good would still be a cop out. Leftists being mortified is nothing new, but for those who laid bare their beliefs for decades only to watch people twist them into disastrous neoliberal policies and miscues, simply being alive is rough. Chris Hannah, the longtime voice of the band, says it best: "Speaking for myself, this record might be a snapshot of me deciding whether I'm going to live out the rest of my life as Eckhart Tolle or … Ted Kaczynski."

At Peace contains some of the biting sarcasm that they're known for, but mostly Propagandhi wander through death and dreck, ruminating on living in a failed Western society. Opener "Guiding Light," sung by bassist Todd Kowalski, offers a chilling glimpse into precious moments before the ravages of war, leading into the Hannah-led title track that encapsulates the record's outlook: "I am at peace these days/ Give or take a fit of blinding rage." Aided by the words of Canadian songwriter and activist Bruce Cockburn, "At Peace" acquiesces while admitting that the fight isn't over.

It's not all new and sad, though. Their early, gnarly punk sound long gave way to thrashier elements (see 2001's Today's Empire, Tomorrow's Ashes), and At Peace pays homage to modes, slowing the thrash guitar parts to thudding, resonant rock and roll on tracks like "Rented P.A.," and "God of Avarice." The silly, skit-based intro to "Vampires are Real" recalls earlier work like "Dear Coach's Corner" or "Ego Fum Papa (I Am The Pope)."

As usual, the lyrics do a lion's share of the work—the aforementioned resignation pervades the second half of the record, as evidenced on "Benito's Earlier Work." "My only remaining goal was to leave this world without actually killing someone/ I find myself harboring doubt/ There's a venn diagram emerging from the mist/ I don't think I'm gonna like what it suggests," Hannah avows. That sense of darkness threads throughout, making the last song "Something Needs to Die But Maybe It's Not You" positively cheery in comparison.

So it goes for believers and activists; their gifts feel wasted in the current climate (pun intended). As humans scramble for survival amidst incredible corruption, war, and fatalist political decision-making, it's tough not to focus on the inherited negativity passed to those who believed a better world was possible. Hannah sums it up nicely in the closer: "The gift is not glory/ The gift is not heroics or recognition/ It's not the hatred our demonic leaders keep demanding/ It's something so impossibly mundane … creation don't make no trash." Hopefully, Propagandhi hold on to that as they trudge onward, armed with their best work since Today's Empires