FeaturesReviews
![]() | Anti-FlagDeath Of A Nation DVD2004 A-F
Review by: KirbyPuckett See others by this writer Official Website (link) Only registered users can post comments Published on October 29th 2004
The elements that DVDs are bringing to the scene are substantial. While several VHS tapes were released they didn’t have the power, capacity, or wide range of material that their digital counterparts tender. The aptitude to not only offer the feature full length, but commentary tracks, bonus footage, music videos, photo galleries, interviews, behind the scenes, as well as a slew of miscellaneous offerings. In what me the most well rounded DVD within the punk rock genre Anti-Flag delivers a packed disc containing mostly all of the aforesaid attributes. Say what you will about Anti-Flag, their music, their politics, and who they are, but there’s no denying that they are one of the best in the genre at doing what they do, and that is creating good punk rock with a positive message. They also have the facility to put on one hell of a live show, which warrants this hour long documentary of last winter’s Death of a Nation Tour. While Kung Fu Records and many other producers focus on one particular live show this video outlines every stop on the tour. This approach spices up the material so the viewer doesn’t get bored with just one show environment. However as the material is recorded in separate venues the audio and video tend to suffer at times. The audio tracks are not nearly as strong as they should be and due to lighting some footage looks dull. Twenty-three tracks summarizing their entire career from Anti-Flag classics “Die for Your Government” and “Fuck The Flag” to new crowd favorites “911 for Peace” and “Rank-N-File.” Aside from a lackluster performance of “Got the Numbers” the band is in their prime throughout every song and track after track continues to demonstrate how strong they are onstage. The band is prone to talking up a storm during their shows, but it is kept to a minimum giving the video a solid flow. Before each song a black and white image of the band states the title and the city, so you can keep an eye out for your friends in Buffalo, Providence, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and the many other cities where the tour landed Bonus material is a significant force behind the superiority of the DVD; it rivals the Aquabats collection in terms of wholeness. Three music videos for songs off The Terror State are available. The unreleased “Death of a Nation” produced in the same messy, cut and paste style apparent in “Los Angeles Is Burning” by Bad Religion. As well as “Turncoat” and rare video of Woody Guthrie highlights, “Post War Breakout.” A live radio performance, an insightful interview, behind the scenes footage, montages, as well as information to become politically active support the rest of the extras completing an outstanding package. The mechanics of the presentation are unbelievable with a fantastic setup and easy menus to navigate. While we all share either a love or hate relationship for Anti-Flag, there is no denying that A-F Records and Scrambled Visual have complied a truly amazing compilation of footage and substance to detail one of today’s most popular underground bands. Death of a Nation will not change your mind on the band, but if you are a fan this is an essential product to own on your DVD rack.
Please login or register to post comments. What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
You people are fucking stupid. First of all, if you don't like punk then why the fuck are you commenting on this DVD. Trust me I'm sure all of us that do like A-F could talk some real shit about that emo bullshit that you listen to. If A-F isn't one of the best punk bands out there than you are the dumbest person I've ever met in my life, and obviously you know NOTHING about music. If you wanna argue with me than let's argue music. Justin Sane's lyrics excluding maybe For Blood and Empire are quite good. Very clever. Not Forced. No stupid rhyming or cliche phrases. Guitar. Ok well not the greatest, but what punk band does. Not much punk is too complicated. Bass. Andy Flag or Chris #2. Both are great bassist. Not only are they playing great bass riffs but also are vocals... I don't care if you don't like Anti-Flag, but you can't, in any way, say the suck. If you do, you can shut you're fuckin mouth. for those people who say that their songs are vague, what about songs like "mind the g.a.t.t." where they specifically refer to a "Paul Hawken-esque model for the world", "the panama deception" (which talks about the sr. bush's ventures in to panama and even states "killing for personal gain (i.e. bush in panama), and "seattle was a riot" (which tells the story of the police force that sprayed pepper spray into the eyes of protestors at the WTO's 3rd ministerial which took place in seattle). those seem to contain pretty specific messages in my opinion. |: Chinatown is a dick always has been always will be. Chinatown yes sI hate you, you asshole. one of the best dvds i own !! Some people here are just fucking gay. Anti-Flag rule your asses because they are one of the best punk bands ever. Give me a break... blink182 sucks alot, they are fucking gays with their fucking emo lyrics that make me puke. fuck all you scene bitches who think your the fucking punkest punk , your pathetic , ''oh im so punk i have a big mohawk and i like aus rotten but NOT anti flag cause there obviously got nothing in common..'' FUCK OFF you tossers , anti flag do get off there arses check out there fucking sites - underground aliance , the one about miliatary recruting in schools and a couple more ; seriously though kids lighten up , anti-flags job isnt to go start riots - theres now way you can change the government too much its too far gone and corrupt - but what they are doing is making people aware of the bullshit , cause numbers make a change. actaully i dont listen to all that much punk anymore. i realized that most of it is bullshit, and its dissapointing to come to that realization, but it happens, its all opinions and i realized that most punk music really isnt all that i had hoped for. but for the 5 bands with some substance, ill name many more Admit It!!!! "yea because.... no one is offering him any" pure shit...this band should have quit after Andy left... none of them makes GOOD MUSIC.And I meant punkbands that still exist. none of them makes GOOD MUSIC I meant punkbands that still exist. Chumbawamba (before EMI signing) "theyre not necesarrily republicans, and theres nothing wrong with being republican. its a choice, an opinion, neither side is right or wrong. but the people posting negative comments about anti-flag arent listening to the bands you listed. theyre people who listened to and believed anti-flag in 8th grade and have since become much more inteliigient and started listening to good music with some real substance to it" lars definetley spends more time on his hair than all of anti-flag combined " Ralph Nader is accepting no PAC money, no corporate contributions and no soft money and no support from 527 groups" Bush makes my balls itch. i think Bad Religion lyrics are hilarious. i just picture some anarchist scientist in a lab coat furiously expressing his existential angst with a pen and notepad. vote badnarik bitches... i won't waste your time like that nader freak did... If Anti-Flag weren't so fucking gay (politically incorrect, call the punk police!) and weren't such fucking hippies... they would actually be very tight (based on their POTENTIAL musicianship). 20 reasons to vote for Ralph Nader on November 2 "the live stuff is great, the sound quality is bad, the bonus footage is awesome, the death of a nation video is way cool, it should be on mtv instead of that eminem one! lars definetley spends more time on his hair than all of anti-flag combined the live stuff is great, the sound quality is bad, the bonus footage is awesome, the death of a nation video is way cool, it should be on mtv instead of that eminem one! "but i can guarentee they don't spend nearly as much time as any screamo, emo, metalcore bands, or rancid Pretty darn good product! And LIVE is just an unbelievable experience! "but i can guarentee they don't waste nearly as many hours as any screamo, emo, metalcore bands, or sex pistols" Guitar Wolf DVD > Anti-Flag DVD I'm not republican and I believe this band is garbage. Hell, if I were republican I would feel the exact same way. "but i can guarentee they don't spend nearly as much time as any screamo, emo, metalcore bands, or rancid The acoustic stuff is neat. Republicans don't belong here. "didn´t know that there was so many republicans on this site...wonder if that´s the same people who love new found glory,simple plan,blink 182,home grown,good charlotte and all those other crap bands...i think so." i think Bad Religion lyrics are hilarious. i just picture some anarchist scientist in a lab coat furiously expressing his existential angst with a pen and notepad. the guy below i guess is sort of right....there is little substance to anti flag stuff theyre not necesarrily republicans, and theres nothing wrong with being republican. its a choice, an opinion, neither side is right or wrong. but the people posting negative comments about anti-flag arent listening to the bands you listed. theyre people who listened to and believed anti-flag in 8th grade and have since become much more inteliigient and started listening to good music with some real substance to it didn´t know that there was so many republicans on this site...wonder if that´s the same people who love new found glory,simple plan,blink 182,home grown,good charlotte and all those other crap bands...i think so. lets face it anti flag are nowhere near as politically minded as they might like us to think they are. just check out their lyrics, it is generic political band stuff. but i can guarentee they don't spend nearly as much time as any screamo, emo, metalcore bands, or rancid Soul Plane dvd > Anti-Flag dvd Bouncing Souls DVD>Anti-Flag DVD I'm going with option #1 myself" "I wonder what anti-flag spends more time on? I wonder what anti-flag spends more time on? The only real issue is the sometimes not so great audio quality other then that this is a fine DVD of a extremely fine band of our times in this genre that sings about more then just booze and girls which seems to be the only reason a lot of people on this board listen to music in the first place! Pretty sad, so why even putting the efford into commenting on Anti-Flag if you much rather listen to the Ataris and Blink182. People have forgotten what punk is all about or maybe you want to tell me now that the Clash werent punk after all. oi oi we hate america....9/11 happens...oi oi we love america...hmm " "the question is... is it as good as the dropkick murphys dvd?" score is for whatever it takes This review is absolute horse shit. "the question is... is it as good as the dropkick murphys dvd?" Anti-Flag is my daddy! the question is... is it as good as the dropkick murphys dvd? kirby puckett is my boy. Oh, and the point wasn't necessarily whether or not they worked, you were saying that they never used academic language, which they obviously do. Now it seems that you're just throwing up that you don't like their lyrics to divert attention away from the fact that you were proven wrong. "Those lines are just flat-out ugly. There's absolutely no flow to them. Didn't Greg admit to looking through a thesaurus to find impressive-sounding words? I thought a guy with a PhD would know better than to resort to wordiness in order to impress his fans. " I rate anti-flag, I'm a dag, "Too many Anti-Flag hatas." "Check out that ass! ---> http://www.the-oc.org/images/rachel/mags/01.jpg" Remember Chris #2's band Whatever it takes? That band was so much fun. I remember standing in surprise as hordes of Saves the Day fans booed and flipped them off. Of course that's admitting that I was there but... I really enjoy Anti-Flag and "Underground Network" is one of my favorite albums, but man was "The Terror State" disappointing. I'd still like to check this DVD out, Anti-Flag have always been awesome live and Chris #2 is an absolutely incredible bass player. Check out that ass! ---> http://www.the-oc.org/images/rachel/mags/01.jpg I wouldn't have a problem with them if their "messages" had actual substance instead of vague conspiracy theories with ignorant, medicore lyrics.And i'm just talking about the garbage they release on albums. It's even worse when you talk to these fools in person. Those lines are just flat-out ugly. There's absolutely no flow to them. Didn't Greg admit to looking through a thesaurus to find impressive-sounding words? I thought a guy with a PhD would know better than to resort to wordiness in order to impress his fans. I am 22. I know more than bad religion. I like Atreyu. I am useless "Bad Religion use academic language? Since when?" I believe it's chicken shit how much people talk crap about this band and not realize how much they are so involved in what they do. They tour the world constantly, put out good albums, spreading messages, and while at home put out records for other bands on thier own label. This is a band that has thier shit together, and has done so much for this community. Thier messages are sometimes bland, but they have the balls to tell it like it is. Not alot of bands I can say share the same politiacal qualities and have the same intensity as this band does on stage. Bad Religion use academic language? Since when? I think I grew out of Anti-Flag over the years, but their most recent record (The Terror State) was actually a nice progression, and had some really decent - dare I say mature - songs. H2O are good people too. Anti-flag are good people. Some of the most nicest and approachable guys I've ever met from any band. i dont think this deserves 4 stars, the audio is horrid. Justin Sane's a moron, but at least he's fighting on the right side. Anger should be directed elsewhere. Oh come on guys, Anti-Flag isn't a revolutionary creative band or anything..... But they are "decent" and have some fun live shows. gladimnotemo- I wouldn't count the 'not-Turncoat' videos as real videos...just hacked-together animations to fill out the disc. Speaking of which, has anyone else read the Bill O'Reilly sex scandal transcripts? Yeah. They're great. I want to see an A-F records video sampler "I'm gonna get it. people need to stop bitching and be happy anti-flag isn't blink 182." I'm gonna get it. people need to stop bitching and be happy anti-flag isn't blink 182. Instead of going to their shows, you should just buy this DVD and then you can fastforward through justin sane's fuck bush rants. "The worst band ever." |