I went back and listened to Failed States last night - not really my thing at all, too metal. Victory Lap by comparison is way more fun, a lot more emphasis on melody and clean vocals.
failed states is a little too complicated and knotty to hold onto but "note to self" is one of the best propagandhi songs ever. i agree that the new one is more fun and melodic; it's nearly as good as supporting caste... maybe it is as good
I like but not love this. I mean, it's still one of my albums of the year, but a little sad there are no absolute bangers on it - the title track is as close as it gets. For me Supporting Caste is Propagandhi's best album, closely followed by Tomorrow's Empires/Less Talk/Potemkin, just for scale. There's not a single song on the album that I dislike - they're all 6-7/10 at worst, but none that I utterly love either. Whereas, for example, on Supporting Caste, Night Letters, Dear Coaches Corner, Without Love, The Banger’s Embrace, Potemkin City Limits I would say are all outstanding. The overall sound on this album is more enjoyable (for me) to the last album, although Note to Self and Devil's Creek are better songs than anything on here, and lyrically I think Failed States was stronger as a whole.
Bumping to remind how rad this album is Lower Order/A Good Laugh, Failed Imagineers and Cop Just Out Of Frame are all top notch