Legendary L.A Punks Bad Religion return with the politically savage and bullishly on point ‘Age Of Unreason’. The band don’t throw out the obvious and sometimes faux American-punk lyrics that blight their contemporaries, oh woe is us, releases, no they fire musical bullets which hit their targets with sniper precision right between their evil fucking eyes. ‘Chaos From Within’ has the distinctive BR sound and at under two minutes, it rips the band-aid off to reveal a deeply infected, materialistic and money grabbing world. ‘My Sanity’ has a slightly slower and more melodic edge but the self-examining words tie it all together, perfectly. ‘Do The Paranoid Style’ and ‘The Approach’ both crackle n’spit with that, we are always lied to, feel and the utter desperation in just finding some actual facts in this fake news spun modern world.
The planet is dying and while most stick their heads in the burning dollar BR face it with the honesty and guile while offering humanity the opportunity to change as ‘Don’t Lose Your Head’ perfectly personifies. Trump and his cronies get their much-deserved flaying on ‘End Of History’ and the “Kids in cages” lyric resonates on a global level, you don’t think this is just an American problem, do you? Stand out track ‘Candidate’ has a message so insightful and sublime that it should be played and discussed in every school, workplace and college across the globe. A blistering ‘Faces Of Grief’ melts before it’s formed while ‘Old Regime’ is blue-collar American Punk of the highest quality. The last four tracks of ‘Black Dog’, ‘Downfall’, ‘Since Now’ and album closer ‘What Tomorrow’ Brings’ whizz by like a freight train. This is not a drill, listen, learn and please enjoy ‘Age Of Unreason’ by Bad Religion, oh and play it to your children, they really need to fucking hear this.
BAD RELIGION
AGE OF UNREASON
Epitaph Records
9/10
Trump is the new punk.
Utterly lost in TDS, Bad Religion will never realize this and seek comfort in old regurgitated protest-cliches – never realizing that they themselves have become puppets for those longing for a strong Orwellian state in full control of its citizens.
Very sad.
The once mighty have fallen.