PROPAGANDHI RETURNS WITH AT PEACE

Stop the presses and sound the alarms—after an eight-year radio silence, Propagandhi have returned! Their eighth studio album, At Peace, lands May 2nd via Epitaph Records, promising a sonic gut-punch to the powers that be. The album, a masterclass in razor-sharp riffage and intellectual insurgency, arrives at a time when the world needs it most. But don’t expect cheap slogans or empty anthems—Propagandhi’s message has never been about feel-good punk platitudes. This time, it’s about staring into the abyss and deciding whether to laugh or rage.

“Speaking for myself, this record might be a snapshot of me deciding whether I’m going to live out the rest of my life as Eckhart Tolle or live out the rest of my life as Ted Kaczynski,” frontman Chris Hannah quips. The band’s acerbic wit is as sharp as ever, but make no mistake—At Peace is no exercise in detached irony. It’s a record forged in frustration, a reflection of decades spent pushing against a world determined to push back harder.

For those who need a refresher, Propagandhi has been at this fight since 1986. Born in Manitoba’s frozen tundra, the band carved a path through punk rock’s hierarchy, slashing through its bro-core conservatism with an ethos that valued intelligence over ignorance, activism over apathy. Their 1993 debut How to Clean Everything was a skate-punk grenade lobbed at the establishment, laced with righteous fury and biting sarcasm. Since then, the band has evolved beyond their thrashy roots, shaping themselves into one of punk’s most uncompromising acts, with an ethos that fuses hardcore aggression with leftist political consciousness. Anti-fascism? Check. Animal rights? Check. A commitment to absolute lyrical and musical authenticity? Double check.

But even revolutionaries grow older. And on At Peace, Propagandhi doesn’t just confront the failings of society—they wrestle with their own evolving place within it. “Everything I’m singing about is still coming from being the same person that wrote and sang our first record,” Hannah admits. “But what we’re putting into the songs now probably reflects more despair than 30 years ago… Now it’s the existential dread of eking out a life worth living in this completely failed society.”

Their first release since 2017’s Victory Lap, At Peace was conceived in the tense political climate before Trump’s rise to power and finalized in December 2024 at Blasting Room Studios with Jason Livermore (Rise Against, Hot Water Music) at the mixing desk. The album captures the band at a crossroads—unsure of what’s next, but unwilling to back down. Tracks swing between poetic introspection and full-scale polemic warfare, the sound of four musicians channeling anxiety, anger, and reflection into something potent.

Once upon a time, Propagandhi believed in the possibility of mass mobilization against the oligarchy. Today? “I don’t think that exists much in our music anymore and I don’t believe that mobilization is forthcoming,” Hannah admits. “I hope to be proven wrong.”

And yet, At Peace stands as a testament to why Propagandhi still matters. It’s punk rock for dangerous times—unflinching, unapologetic, and unwilling to look away. As long as there’s injustice to fight and truths to tell, Propagandhi will be here to shout about it.

Chris Hannah, Jord Samolesky, Todd Kowalski, and Sulynn Hago have returned. And they’ve got something to say. At Peace drops May 2nd. Ignore it at your own peril.