If there is any question that the Against Me! that recorded White Crosses is wholly different than the Against Me! that recorded Reinventing Axl Rose, those doubts are put to rest with the title of the second song: "I Was A Teenage Anarchist." That past-tense state-of-being verb is key, acting at once as acceptance, disavowment and — naysayers be damned — sign of genuine progress. It's also a bit of an in-joke, a direct reference to, and repudiation of, one of the group's famous early songs, "Baby, I'm an Anarchist!" Tom Gabel at 22 was burning down buildings; Tom Gabel at 29 is acknowledging "the politics are too convenient." He's also writing better choruses.

It's that last bit that's most significant: More than their minor political shifts, Against Me!, over the course of the last five years, have evolved into genuine hit-generators. If Gabel's prose is sometimes unwieldy — this is a man who considers "With the instant availability of information/ and content so easily obtainable/ is the culture now a product that's disposable" a viable rock verse — he at least manages to latch it to a searing hook. The group has found a comfortable sonic middle ground between the… read more »