Anthems for the Damned is the fourth studio album by American rock band Filter.

Started in 2003, the album saw many delays, as the band's sole member, frontman and founder Richard Patrick, took several breaks to pursue other musical interests, notably The Damning Well in 2003 and Army of Anyone from 2005 to 2007.

[6] In July 2002, the band released their third studio album, The Amalgamut, though by the end of September of the same year, all touring and support of the album was cancelled in lieu of frontman Richard Patrick admitting himself into drug rehabilitation due to his excessive drug and alcohol use during the prior four years.

[11] Over the course of the same year, Patrick also worked briefly on a side-project called The Damning Well with Wes Borland, Danny Lohner, and Josh Freese.

[9] In past albums, Patrick had written his lyrics around his own personal issues, many of which were about, or related to, drug and alcohol abuse.

[9] The occurrence was the basis of the lead single, "Soldiers of Misfortune",[1] a song described by Patrick as "very pro-troops but vehemently anti-war.

[19] With the album primarily being recorded by Patrick himself, he assembled a new touring band consisting of Mitch Marlow on guitar, John Spiker on bass, and Mika Fineo on drums.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic criticized the album's meshing of urgent, political messages with overly-polished instrumentation, stating that "Patrick's urgent words [don't] quite [jib] with the well-executed mannered angst-rock...the disconnect isn't too dissonant, which is the problem: the whole affair feels just a shade too well-manicured -- the rhythms too tight, the guitars too well-scrubbed, the production too well-balanced -- and as a result, the album never gets underneath the skin with way Filter intended.

The production is top notch, not a single note miscued and lyrically his best since 1995's Short Bus...Filter's fourth album hits a grand slam right out of the park.

"[1] About.com critic Tim Grierson stated that the record is "impressive for its willingness to be so candid about a flawed society and the singer's place in it, provoking a series of songs that are sonically rich but also thematically compelling.