Bad Religion
The Descent Of Man
Epitaph

You know what to expect from a new Bad Religion record by now, right? Packed with intelligence, ire, melody, consciousness and eminently hummable contemporary punk, the rabble-rousing stalwarts’ new, and astonishingly, fifteenth record (fifteenth!) ‘The Dissent Of Man’ confirms once more that the band’s revolutionary fire has dimmed little over their thirty-odd years of existence. Without deviating too much from their much-imitated, never bettered formula, the Californians have put together yet another collection of politically minded mini-anthems, with a few interesting excursions away from textbook BR thrown in to mix things up.

Where their previous record ‘New Maps Of Hell’ was an enjoyable but derivative rehash of some of their earlier works, ‘The Dissent Of Man’ brings together all elements of the band’s sound: the colossal hooks, the up-tempo riot songs, even some melancholy-rich pop (for illustration, see ‘The Devil In Stitches’, ). But when such sure to be divisive tracks sit alongside songs such as ‘The Wrong Way Kids’ (what’s a melodic punk album without some ‘whoa’s, we ask you) and no-pissing about opener ‘The Day That The Earth Stalled’ , only real BR purists could be all that miffed. Many things have set Bad Religion apart from the punk hordes over the years… the profundity and insight of their lyrics, (‘Meeting Of The Minds’, ‘I Won’t Say Anything’) their consistency (give or take a couple of records), but, perhaps most of all, the fact that they always, always come out with a few great and memorable songs on every album. If we were to judge by that alone then it’d be fair to say that this is the band’s best record for quite a few years.

All self-respecting punk fans should hear this record… it really is that simple. Grab the album, hit the streets, raise the crossbuster. Now, more than ever, we need some defiance and understanding. And songs to jump up and down to, naturally.

Buy this album from AMAZON

Review by Rob Sayce