Agnostic Front

Agnostic Front came out with a new record this week called My Life My Way on Nuclear Blast Records. I'm listening to it for the first time right now and feel exactly how I assumed I would. AF is very easily one of my favorite bands ever, but I'm not gonna try to fool anyone and say I love the last few records. So far My Life My Way is much like Warriors and Another Voice. I don't hate it, but it isn't going to be come an all time favorite.

The band has had three very different sounds throughout their career. There was the straightforward hardcore of their early records, the more punk rock Epitaph records and the more modern and metallic they play today. Each have their bright spots, some much more than others, but I like them all in one way or another. I've grown tired of watching my girlfriend watch Greek and thought I'd arrange my top five favorite AF LP's for my own entertainment. So here it is.

1.) One Voice
I have always thought this was Agnostic Front at their best. They finally got the perfect blend of crossover hardcore that they seemed to be looking for since Cause For Alarm. "New Jack" and "One Voice" are a great one two combination to get this record started. It doesn't slow down much from their. Despite the bands attempts at writing heavy songs in recent years, these are the hardest songs AF ever wrote.

2.) Victim In Pain
I know plenty of people will want to shake the shit out of me for not having this absolute hardcore classic as my favorite AF record. This is loaded with some of the bands best songs like my personal favorite "Blind Justice". I understand why most people would consider this AF's best, and maybe it is, but it isn't my favorite.

3.) Liberty & Justice
This might seem like a weird choice to have as my third favorite, but I've always thoroughly enjoyed this record. I've actually had this album framed on my wall for years. I don't really know why though, I always thought the album artwork sucked and the colors blended in real shitty. No one can deny the speed on this record, these guys were playing fast on this recording. Also it has "Anthem" on it, that song is reason enough to rank this high.

4.) Cause For Alarm
From the opener "The Eliminator", this record fucking rules. Roger Miret was still pretty easy to understand on this album as opposed to what he does now. A lot of people hate on how metal this record was, but I think it is perfect. I can't imagine kids not being into this back when it came out. I was only 2 at the time, but I'm willing to bet I would've loved it.

5.) Riot Riot Upstart
I thought there was going to be something unique about my list when I started it. Now I realize I like everything in almost chronological order. Riot Riot Upstart was one of the very punk rock Epitaph Records records. That doesn't mean this album doesn't have some quality hardcore songs on it though. The opener "Police State" is very reminiscent of old AF. The change comes on songs like the title track, which fortunately is very catchy and I think pretty good. If these guys would have continued to release records like this I could've been happy.