Bad Religion

Editor's Review:

The Southern California punk pioneers of Bad Religion have been at it steadily ever since they started releasing records way back in the early '80s; not much about their formula has changed, it's just become more of everything it already was. However, that may be the group's biggest problem these days. Rather than become fat and happy, the band's mainstay member, vocalist Greg Graffin, has been in school since the his group's inception, and currently holds a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from Cornell University. Not only is the man intelligent, but he's also a bit of a dissident, a side of him that really comes through in the music; more so now than ever. His rants about the foibles of the human race and its tendency for self-destruction used to be educated but driven mainly by emotion. Nowadays, Graffin's political banter is far too much about putting forth actual ideas, rather than offering some incendiary information and inciting its use with the music. Much of the material on No Substance has way too much substance, making the whole thing hard to swallow.

Much of the old musical style is also there-from the vocal harmonies that are now a trademark for Orange County punk bands, as well as the fast, hollow-distortion guitar tone-but it too is way overdone, pretty, shiny and new. This album is for hardcore BR fans and those who like the polished punk of the day.

- Philip Bole


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Record Label Atlantic Records Released May 1998

Tracks 1 Hear It 2 Shades of Truth 3 All Fantastic Images 4 Biggest Killer in American History 5 No Substance 6 Raise Your Voice 7 Sowing the Seeds of Utopia 8 Hippy Killers 9 State of the End of the Millenium Address 10 Voracious March of Godliness 11 Mediocre Minds 12 Victims of the Revolution 13 Strange Denial 14 At the Mercy of Imbeciles 15 Same Person 16 In So Many Ways