The time was ripe for a Desaparecidos reunion album. Over their 13-year hiatus, Conor Oberst’s super-popular emo-tronic Bright Eyes outfit had blown up, morphed into a more alt-country vibe, then taken a backseat to his even folkier Americana projects. All the while, his stage banter became increasingly political; his shows turned into radical leftist soapbox speeches that made even his center-left audience squirm. The dude had said enough about himself, and now he’s had a chance to say what he thinks of the world at large for the first time since 2002.

Payola (poignant, music industry jab) sounds a bit closer to pop-punk and 2000s radio’s post-hardcore than their debut Read Music/Speak Spanish‘s earnest emo, aside from its parallel political ambitions. Hell, it even has some power-pop in there. Plus, the production is certainly sleeker.

Nonetheless Oberst’s Desaparecidos messages are as clear as ever. The very opening track’s title alone says it all: “The Left is Right.” It continues in “The Underground Man,” every stanza progressing the metamorphosis that idealistic agents of change undergo until they become hollow shills at the mercy of powerful political lobbies:

The Underground Man

This 99%-er message is expanded on throughout the album, most blatantly in his theme song for “Anonymous.” Like that infamous hacker group, you may or may not agree with all of his methods (such as the daydreams of shooting up a department store in “Von Maur Massacre”). However, you’re unlikely to even hear about this album if you’re not one of his targets, which include egregiously racist Arizonans (“MariKKKopa”), the corrupt parasites of Wall Street (“Golden Parachutes”), the NSA (“Search the Searches”), or Big Pharma/Insurance’s cancerous effects on the American medical industry (“Ralphy’s Cut”).

Despite how shiny and polished the sound may be, there’s really no way to spin this album as hypocritical milking at the teet of the social angst dollar (e.g. what the public accused RATM of doing when they signed to a major). The messages are just too specific. For that, it’s commendable. We’ve heard it all before from Occupiers, more socialist politicians, and other public figures.

However, sometimes you just have to keep beating the point home until your listener finally realizes just how screwed the US economy has become. At that point, maybe they’ll ditch the “Slacktivism” and opt for the real thing.