Unexciting Political Punk Rock (War On Errorism - NOFX)

Member Name: rleigh

Product:	War On Errorism - NOFX
Date:	27/04/08 (65 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A couple of tracks are reasonably entertaining, the lyrical content is interesting.

Disadvantages: The album lacks life, the music lacks excitement.

'The War on Errorism' is the ninth studio album from the American punk rock band that is NOFX. The album was released in 2003, a politically charged musical stab at the US president George W. Bush. NOFX front man Fat Mike has always been quite open in his hatred for the president, throughout this album his thoughts about the man are made quite clear and although the lyrical content is quite interesting the music sadly never is. The album runs for thirty six minutes, a very bland thirty six minutes of music this is too.

The album begins with the track 'The Separation of Church and Skate', immediately you get the distinct impression that this album is not going to be up to much and in thinking this you would not be far wrong at all. The best music of NOFX has always been when the band has put together an energetic display of skate punk music I feel, often with a smidgeon of ska punk slammed in there for good measure also. What is present here on this 'The War on Errorism' is fourteen extremely uninspiring bog standard punk rock tracks; little energy or enthusiasm is injected into the music and never is the sound created here ever particularly interesting to listen to.

'Franco Un-American' was released commercially from this album as a single, it's not particularly exciting and yet it's probably one of the best tracks that this album has to offer. The lyrics here are quite interesting, they really make you think; the music however is repetitive and droning, something that is true of every track on this 'The War on Errorism' album in fact. The track progression here is extremely basic, the vocals are passionately put across and yet everything else about the track is extremely lacklustre. 'American Errorist (I Hate Hate Haters)' is another of the stronger tracks from this album, again it is extremely flawed but definitely one of the best that NOFX has to offer as a band with this album. The simplicity of the instrumental element of the music and repetitive nature of the track makes for an extremely irritating listening experience indeed. There are some great moments of promise here, on the whole however the track is more than a little bit lacking.

Throughout this album there are times when elements of ska punk are thrown into the mix, these moments always sound more than a little half hearted however. 'Anarchy Camp' takes quite a traditional straight up ska approach for example; it's just not very good. The ska is stripped down and extremely basic, the feel of it is quite familiar but the lack of creativity shown here really kills the track. The vocals are extremely monotonous, nothing is particularly lively here and the music just isn't much fun to listen to at all. The track drones on for just under three minutes, the truth is that less than a third of the way through the track you already find yourself to be incredibly bored of it all however. Many of the tracks on 'The War on Errorism' sound like filler tracks, few (if any) really deserve to be included on this album and never is the sound created here particularly impressive at all.

All in all 'The War on Errorism' provides for an extremely tiresome listening experience. The music on display here lacks life and at no stage is any real musical talent expressed by the band. There are a few moments of promise spattered throughout this album, no track is entirely excellent though and every song here has a vast array of faults and flaws. This album has been poorly put together by NOFX, the music is all about putting political messages across here and any fun and energy that had previously been present in the bands sound has been all but removed. I would not recommend giving this album a listen, there are a lot of far better punk rock albums out there than this and to invest in this 'The War on Errorism' release would therefore be a complete waste of money.

Summary: 'The War on Errorism' is not at all an album that I would recommend listening to.