Bad Religion - Age Of Unreason

Tracklist: 

01. Chaos From Within 

02. My Sanity 

03. Do The Paranoid Style 

04. The Approach
05. Lose Your Head 

06. End Of History

07. Age Of Unreason 

08. Candidate 

09. Faces Of Grief 

10. Old Regime 

11. Big Black Dog 

12. Downfall 

13. Since Now 

14. What Tomorrow Bring 

Release date: May 3rd 2019
Label: Epitaph Records
Format: CD, LP, digital


Reviewed by Trope Misanthrope


Some long-time fans might be disappointed to learn that Bad Religion are partisans. Who isn’t? Most have fully understood the band’s political leanings, at least since the album The Empire Strikes First, which was a mostly front-to-back scathing indictment of the George W. Bush regime. The band mostly remained silent politically during the Barrack Obama administration, but Bad Religion are clearly inspired once again, and perhaps triggered, by Trump.

Bad Religion gave fans an inkling of what was to come on Age Of Unreason — their first new full-length album since 2013’s True North — when the single "The Kids Are Alt-Right" was released last year. TKAAR did not make it onto Age Of Unreason, but the 14-song album which drops May 3 via Epitaph Records most certainly is a withering criticism of the new Republican President Donald Trump and any and all forms of nationalism and populism.

 If that’s going to turn you off, AOU probably isn’t for you. However, most Bad Religion fans, even those with right-leaning or even libertarian views, will likely look past the anti-Trump messaging in order to enjoy the pure and unadulterated sonic dopamine-dropping music the band has traditionally and consistently produced.

Age Of Unreason opens with "Chaos From Within", which lands on all the familiar building blocks of the Bad Religion formula. Lyrically, the song captures the xenophobic tendencies humanity has towards letting in outsiders, which nowadays often comes via migrants and immigration.

“When the ancestor fell from the arbor 

The march of fear began 

But the predator wallowed in failure 

 In the face of consciousness” 

The next song, "My Sanity", is probably the only feel-good type of track on the record. While lacking the exultant tones of previous pop-driven BR songs, like "Stranger Than Fiction" or "The Devil In Stitches", "My Sanity" does have a strangely optimistic tonality, despite it’s melancholy, even though the band is talking about trying to maintain one’s sanity in an increasingly unreasonable world.

 My favorite track on this album is a toss up between "Chaos From Within", "End Of History" and "Candidate". If you’re hoping this record contains the quintessential power ballad that hearkens back to classics such as "Infected" and "21st Century Digital Boy", you’ll get exactly what you’re looking for in "End Of History" and "Candidate", both of which made the goosebumps stand up on this reviewer’s arms.

 Far be it from me to pan any song written and released from the most prolific writing tandem in punk rock history — Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz — but if I’m being honest, Age of Unreason begins to lose a little momentum in the back-end of the album. However, the first eight tracks are excellent, and the record does finish strong with "What Tomorrow Brings". All in, "Age Of Unreason" is another fine addition to Bad Religion canon. My only real complaint is that some of the songs seem a little short, but only in the sense that a BR song ending after the second chorus only make me want to circle back and listen again.

Fans had to wait nearly six long years for new Bad Religion music, and I think it’s safe to say the band rewarded everyone for their patience and long-suffering. I’m still marinating on Age Of Unreason in all honesty, but for now, I have to give it 3.5 out of four stars — just shy of perfection — only because the album careens off the track towards the back-end, before jumping back in line with the final song.

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