I have heard the sound of freedom, and it is a power chord. When you play the opening title track of Against Me!’s new album, you will get a big whiff of it too. Considering the circumstances that spawned it, it is incredible to hear a confident declaration and a new voice in punk rock.

Prior to 2012, Against Me! were a fairly successful punk band, with some acclaimed records and praise from the likes of Foo Fighters, who took them on tour, and Bruce Springsteen, whose drummer Max Weinberg has a drumming son that was a former member of the band. Then singer Laura Jane Grace suddenly kicked down a barrier by coming out as transgender in 2012, through the pages of Rolling Stone, and the world took notice.

According to the interview, Grace had been dancing around this for most of her life, especially by hiding clues in Against Me! songs, specifically “The Ocean” and “Searching For A Former Clarity.” Also, in the interview, Grace spoke of writing a new album, a concept piece with the less than subtle title “Transgender Dysphoria Blues.” Now both the album and Grace have come roaring out of seclusion.

The lyrics are honest to the point of brutality, with the title track letting you know right off what is being hashed out here: “You want them to see you like they see every other girl/They just see a f****t.” But there is no shame, nor fear in the songs, because there has been enough of that already, replaced instead by a swaggering confidence.

I am seriously grateful that Against Me! are not the kind of punks that spit on musicianship and record their albums in a miked-up brothel toilet just to get that “authentic” sound, since the band is thrashing brutally but in perfect time and everything sounds pristine.  I am loving the lyrical takedown of machismo in “Drinking with the Jocks,” even though the music sounds tailor-made for drunk frat bros to mosh out to. “Unconditional Love” flirts with a pop swing, and the one-two punch of the title track and “True Trans Soul Rebel” is a testament to Grace’s skill as a lyricist that moved the Boss.  

“There’s a brave new world raging inside of me,” Grace sings on “F**KMYLIFE666.” It is a statement applicable to everyone recently, since issues like the Dr. V controversy and cases like that of little Coy Mathis, in addition to Grace’s coming out, have suddenly whipped transgender people into a public that is still struggling to figure out how to manage their needs and plights. Given the uncertainty, I like Grace’s method of acceptance: just shut up and headbang equally, as music takes us forward in her embrace. After all, what is more punk that rejecting your given gender?