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Bad ReligionThe Empire Strikes First Epitaph/Shock For over two decades Los Angeles' Bad Religion have been releasing punk-rock albums of powerful songs whose lyrical sophistication is unrivalled. A dictionary is a useful tool when trying to figure out what they're on about, though it's bound to be politically outspoken and uncompromisingly intellectual. As their name suggests, they've always been suspicious of religious motivations so they're both proudly prescient and more salient than ever. Provoked by world events, they deliver a spirited and irreverent salvo here, focussed on the hypocrisy of militant 'Christians' and other religious crusaders. Musically, they've always been heavy pop-punk, with layers of distorted guitars backed by thumping rhythms and overlaid with the melodic voices of (Dr) Greg Graffin. Ornamented with screaming pick-slides, the often venomously spitting songs generally give way to choruses that reach choral proportions. Leading the band's unusual three guitar attack is the other mainman, co-writer, co-producer, Brett Gurewitz. Words like "blistering," "break-neck" and "apocalyptic" are used in the promotional material for this album and it ain't spin in this case, though there's always the balance of a huge anthem or two. The title track is one, noting the US's move to pre-emption as a defence against Iraq and saying, "Even ten million souls marching in February couldn't stop the worst." Bad Religion fearlessly seek-out truth and use the considerable force at their disposal to proselytise for their scientific, atheist morality. Eclipsing even 2002's excellent 'Process Of Belief,' they offer another uniformly brilliant batch of mature songs in their familiar, relentless style. With the expected activist attitude they reassure the world that US rock'n'roll music can still be a socially and politically potent art-form. On the other hand, with all that experience and formidable production, the band have never sounded so perfect for a mindless, euphoric mosh.  |
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