via//chicago

np: "let them eat war" - bad religion f. sage francis

yeah, another band of mine managed to sneak up a new release on me completely unaware. i remembered hearing that Bad Religion was working on a new album, but i had forgotten about it until i saw it sitting on the rack today. i snagged that one with a quickness though, and i am glad i did. i've been loyal to BR even through some of the not-so-great albums of the late 1990's, but the joy i've gotten from them since i picked up Suffer over a decade(!) ago kept me loyal. the first time i saw them live was at Soldier Field in Chicago, opening for Pearl Jam. yeah, a strange place to see a punk band for the first time, but they did an excellent job considering the circumstances (i.e. the majority of fans not giving a fuck about them, the 95+ degree sun beating down on them while they played, etc). i was blown away, with "Fuck Armageddon, This is Hell" being a personal highlight. ANYWAY. the band suffered a slight decline in quality over the latter half of the '90's as they toiled away on a major label and the punk scene got overrun with poppier fare for the younger generation. but two little things brought this band raging back to life - the return to being solely distributed by the Epitaph label and said label's head Mr. Brett returning to the fold. the last album, The Process of Belief, was a pretty huge step up after the last two albums on Atlantic, both returning to their roots while still retaining some of the expanded repetoire that they had built over the years. the album combined their political ideology with that certain spark that had been eluding them, producing arguably their strongest album since Stranger Than Fiction. the latest, The Empire Strikes First, continues the groundwork laid on TPoB and proves that Bad Religion is one of the best twentysomething punk bands still in action. maybe it wasn't due so much to the return of Mr. Brett or the Epitaph logo, but more because the state of the world seems far more conducive to a Bad Religion album than the late 1990's did. obvious topics like the war in Iraq (the title track, "Let Them Eat War") and the decline of the social fabric ("Social Suicide", "All There Is") are present as expected, along with new attacks on the Catholic priest scandal ("Sinister Rouge") and reality television ("Los Angeles is Burning"). after a shaky start to the album, featuring a gothic choir snagged from Davey Havok's house, the album charges through the next 4 songs in less than 10 minutes while Greg Graffin spews his always intelligent poetry over some of the fastest drumming and guitar-shredding the band has done since the '80s. about halfway the band throws a slight curveball by adding an unexpected guest vocal shot by underground hip-hop phenom Sage Francis. while experimenting with huge guest stars isn't new to the band (remember Eddie Vedder on recipe for Hate?), its the first time a guest has fit so well with the band's sound. instead of opting to just quiet the guitars and pound out a hip-hop beat for Sage to drop his lines over, they band charges full speed ahead and moves over just enough to allow him to jump aboard. while a anti-war track from Bad Religion and Sage Francis isn't exactly the most shocking thing in the world, it's surprising just how well it works. the band continues to explore some new sonic textures towards the end of the album on tracks like "Beyond Electric Dreams", but the passion and fire never fades away. or maybe i'm just old and it's a comfort in these doubtful times to hear an old voice angered anew. nah, it really is a good fucking album.
i figured anybody reading this would probably be inundated with talk of the Sonic Youth, !!!, or Velvet Revolver albums this week, so i thought i should mention something that might easily get overlooked amongst this week's purchases. so yeah, if you've ever been a BR fan - check this out.