Issue 504

Bad Religion The Dissent Of Man Epitaph/Shock Having not paid too much attention to Bad Religion in the last decade - they seemed to sink into the despair of polemic - it's kinda nice to here them raging against the darkness with purpose and effect I've not really heard since 'The Grey Race'. Of course for Bad Religion there has never been a shortage of things to rage against; capitalism, organised religion, consumer stupidity, Reaganites... you name it and they've probably had a pretty big swing at it somewhere in the last 30 years. 'The Dissent Of Man' is a play on words, of course, worked from the Charles Darwin book 'The Ascent Of Man' and allows them the scope to work their magic in themes. Hence, they can work in a song which claims "Cuz Jesus just don't seem to be impartially working" (Won't Somebody) and drive a nail home in the search for reasons behind a military presence in Afghanistan (Ad Hominem). More importantly, this time around Bad Religion seem to have softened not their stance but their approach to the problems they see. There's a more personal angle which principal songwriters Graffin and Gurewitz seem to be exploiting; Cyanide is an ode to loneliness with the personal touch, and Only Rain is suspiciously open to interpretation. Could it be an individual questioning personal belief of Deity. Could that be? Are Bad Religion finally softening their stance? Emphatically no. There's more "oohs 'n ahhhs" and a hint of steel guitar, and some of the songs sound like they're struggling to reach top gear, but the quality of their scorn remains. In fact, the deeper into the album I got the more like the Bad Religion of old it sounded. And the clues are scattered throughout; in the artwork including the centre tableaux (the monkey to man ladder-of-progress), and their customary call to arms (The Resist Stance). It ain't just a Punk Rock Song. Alex Wheaton