Land of the Free? by Pennywise

Land of the Free?, Pennywise's sixth studio album, hit the racks on Epitaph on June 19, 2001, and the question mark in the title tells you exactly where the Hermosa Beach crew stood. Riding the momentum of Straight Ahead, they went back into the studio early that year with Joe Barresi producing, and he got them sounding like a fist through drywall: Fletcher Dragge's guitar thick and relentless, Randy Bradbury's bass and Byron McMackin's drums locked at a dead sprint, and Jim Lindberg barking over the top while the rest of the band hollers back.

It's melodic hardcore with its jaw set, all velocity and singalong, and "Fuck Authority" was the single sent out to carry the message, a title that did its own campaigning. Critics were on board, and the record sold around the world, peaking at 67 in America and 21 on the Australian album chart.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.