Less Empire More Ashes

I bought the first Propagandhi LP ('How To Clean Everything') back when it came out in 1994. I was into some of the Epitaph releases back then (Bad Religion, Pennywise, Rancid) and I had friends who had latched onto Fat Wreck Chords. I got to hear the Propagandhi LP and I liked it. But I then picked up their 'Where Quality Is Job #1' 7" a year or so later, and I didn't like it and didn't get it. And that was it. Given that I had also discovered straight edge hardcore and felt that I was moving on, I totally wrote off Propagandhi at that point and managed to avoid listening to any of their other releases... until 2022. I picked up their latest LP last year and realised that I had some catching up to do. So I started to keep an eye out for any more of their records. And recently I picked up another couple of their LPs.

'Less Talk More Rock' is their second album, from 1996. This version is a repress from 2009 on 'Root Beer' vinyl out of 666 copies. I was happy to pick up this 'older' colour vinyl repress because the colour suits the cover quite well, and all other colour vinyl options are from the 2020s and pressed on splatter colours that look terrible.

I'm not as into this record as the later ones. It sounds a bit more like their first LP to me, and what I have learnt in recent years is that, even though the first one was the only one I had heard for many years, it's probably their worst. I prefer the more 'hardcore' sound of their later records than the 'pop punk' sounds of the first one. I'm not sure if this is a popular view, but that's where I sit.

I also picked up 'Today's Empire, Tomorrow's Ashes' which is the third album, from 2001. This one is a 2015 grey repress vinyl (officially called 'Dirty White') out of 529 copies.

I get the impression that this is regarded by a lot of people as their best record. I can see why. It definitely marks a movement away from their older sound to a more 'serious' band. But I can't really give an opinion yet as I have only listened to about half of their catalogue. There's another 4 albums I have yet to hear. I'm sure at some point I'll get around to it, but there's no real rush. But for sure I can see why everyone likes this one.