Track This: Propagandhi's "At Peace."

From the opening notes of Propagandhi's anthem of resilience, "At Peace," the title track on their eighth album, listeners will realize that the band has learned how to reflect and grow, despite the anger they continue to feel from years of governmental malfeasance. The band's flirtations with metal are becoming more hardened with each release, and this track is heavy. metaphorically and musically. The feeling of doom is underscored by menacing metallic guitar arpeggios before Chris Hannah's weary, world worn vocals break the heaviness. The verses and choruses reach a riffy consensus as he hits a breathy, hypnotic, drawn-out mantra, "I am at peace," The band, including bassist Todd Kowalski, guitarist Sulynn Hago, and drummer, Jord Samolesky find their groove in a sludgy, trudging heaviness that martially moves along with the lyrics. 

Hannah sings a plea that resonates heavily with many of us who have been trying to understand how we have gotten to this point, those of us who have argued against the current regime, those of us who thought that maybe the world would get estimatebly better in the Obama years, but have just relinquished hope for durability. The tongue-in-cheek lyrics hit hard and follow the typical sarcastic, anarchistic patterns of the band's earlier work: "Hedge every bet, lick every boot / Make every appeal / Prostrate yourself to the killing machine / To spare yourself from its wheels." The lyrics juxtapose the light and darkness, the trial and futility, as he sings, "I'm resourceful, resilient / I power through the waves of disappointment / Maybe not quite thriving, but I'm buoyant / I'm at peace these days / Give or take fit of blinding rage." He tracks the fine line between acceptance and anger, admitting "I can't seem to shake the belief / That there's a liminal state between."

One of the best tracks the band has released in years with tight guitar lines, expressive vocals, and lyrics that will continue to resonate, despite that fact that we don't want them to. This is a song that many of us need right now to separate the darkness from the light and try to move on. Propagandhi are excellent at finding the darkness and adding enough levity to help listeners move on. Hannah discusses the "liminal" state that we should all strive for, a space to heal and find ways to move on from the near-perpetual darkness of contemporary society.