In a career that’s lasted nearly forty years and a whopping seventeen albums, this isn’t a band who’ve sat back and looked away from flexing their socio-political views whenever possible, and for a band with tracks like American Jesus and 21st Century (Digital Boy) that rank among their biggest, there’s been a clear response to it. And as the world continues to burn more and more each day, what better time for Bad Religion to resurface and take society’s ills to task once more?

Essentially its Bad Religion doing Bad Religion; For a band as right on as Bad Religion these are times that just keep giving and in return, Bad Religion keeps giving back.

As Brett Gurewitz said, “The band has always stood for enlightenment values. Today, these values of truth, freedom, equality, tolerance, and science, are in real danger. This record is our response.”

I guess it was time to don the shit kickers and kick some shit then.  From the opening frantic burst of ‘Chaos From Within’ it’s slick it’s fast it driven and the guitar solo is a ball of fire lasting the blink of an eye there’s no time for bloated introductions, it’s on with the punk rock show. ‘My Sanity’ is fast but has a heartfelt melody with lush harmonies mixing sweet tunes with fast sharp punk exactly what Bad Religion is best at.  The pace is constant for the first four songs and its not until ‘Lose Your Head’ does the pace relent.  Another excellent song By the time you get to the album highpoint that is the acoustic driven ‘Candidate’ the band demonstrates right there how vital they are and how their sound is timeless and ageless.  Graffin and Gurewitz have plenty of anger and are articulate enough to relay it through their music in a constructive and authoritative way. They go from the melodic ‘Candidate’ to the pounding ‘Faces Of Grief’ that thrashes and gasps for oxygen before ending sharply.

The ebb and flow through fourteen tracks is the sound of old pros knowing exactly how to deliver what they do to perfection its not easy staying ahead of the curve and remaining relevant in todays music scene but with such a plentiful pool of inspiration how can you not love the groove on songs like ‘Big Black Dog’ and if I’m honest the second half of this record is even stronger and the band also take a chance on breaking the pace and frantic style and their canon of songs is expanded further.

Bad Religion are one of those bands I never realise how many of their records I have until a new one comes out and I always like what I hear and am slightly taken aback at their body of work.   Yet their standards are always really high even if you probably know what you’re going to get before the needle drop. That’s not a criticism by the way if the music is consistently strong as their is which is exactly why they’ve released so many and have maintained their popularity after all these years.  Long may it continue because the world needs BAd Religion right here right now.

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Author: Dom Daley