By Samuel Rubenfeld

You knew this day would come.

It is the day that light turned to dark, the one when all that is real turns fake and all that is fake turns real.

Against Me!, the band founded on the basis of DIY-fueled folk-punk, has gone commercial. No more basement shows. No more punk credibility. It’s time for the limelight, guys.

It’s time to “take some time think, figure out what’s important to you,” as they sing in the song “Stop!”

The record itself is not as much a problem as the hype, promotion and marketing surrounding it. They wrote these same songs on the last record, “Searching for a Former Clarity.” But Butch Vig (Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana) produced this one.

And he raped the band with Tom’s old kettledrum in the process.

The guitars are too loud, the bass thumps along and they sound like a punk band trying to fill a 20,000-seat stadium.

Lyrically, the band tackles the familiar subjects, war, romance and the politics of the major label business (one that they were loath to join until recently).

Lead single “White People for Peace” attacks the irony of protest songs and their ineffectiveness. “Protest songs to try and stop the soldier’s gun / But the battle raged on…” Tom Gabel roars over a searing riff.

In “Thrash Unreal,” Gabel tells the story of a woman who lives a drug-abusing, minimum wage-working life, but who has no other options because of her lack of a college education.

Standout track “Piss and Vinegar”, highlights the importance of the band’s sincerity while “Americans Abroad” analyzes the American influence on globalization as witnessed while on tour.

By selling out, Against Me! has turned on the reason for its existence. They were the antidote for a dying industry, and now by joining it, they have become the problem, not the solution.

2 1/2 Stars