Review: Pennywise – Land of the Free?
Pennywise’s music is like something good you know will always be there. No matter what disc you put in your player, or what track you listen to it is still as good as the first time you heard it, I guess that is why this is the band’s seventh studio album, and why it doesn’t look like they are slowing down.
The disc starts off with the irreverent lead up to the band’s first single “Fu*k Authority” that has garnered a lot of playtime on the radio airwaves as of late. The single (a bash on the government none the less) is one of the CDs most striking tracks along with “Divine Intervention,” and “Who’s On Your Side.”
While the disc doesn’t offer as many lingering tunes as 1999’s Straight Ahead or 2000’s Live at the Key Club, Land of the Free? does offer the one thing that Pennywise is known for, all out punk music in a rebellious, yet contained explosion that keeps this album in your CD player for months to come.
While the album predated the terrorist attacks of September 11th, it should not be held down or back in any way for the negative spindle it launches upon the organized government of the United States. Would you rather have someone sing their troubles as an outlet, or plummet a 747 into a building?
One thing that Pennywise does make more than a few references to on the new disc is that of disorganized religion in the song “My God.” While I won’t go into details here (I don’t want to die a martyr at this time) the disc lives up to the true nature of the first single, and does want to totally fu*k authority.
Unfortunately, for the industry as a whole, the album doesn’t offer anything totally new that we haven’t heard before in the genre, which at the moment I believe only Bad Religion did with their New America album in 2000. Still, like I stated earlier, the more Pennywise we get the better, and this CD definitely fits in with that.
