Bad Religion
True North
Epitaph Records (2013)
Score: 7.5/10
Whenever a long standing, veteran band releases a new album these days, it seems as if that record is billed as a throwback to the group’s earlier and most renowned material. Such is the case with Bad Religion’s True North, which is being heralded as a return to form of the BR classics Against the Grain and Suffer. Upon first listen, I was calling b.s. on this comparison, but since I absolutely love early Bad Religion, in particular the triple threat of Suffer, No Control, and Against The Grain, I figured I would sit on True North for a bit.
Going back in time, my introduction to Bad Religion came around the same time I discovered skateboarding in 1987. My friend Karl was a fellow skater from Boulder City, and he had lucked upon a 5th generation dubbed cassette copy of BR’s Back To The Known EP while living in Arizona for a short time. It almost blows my mind to think back to a time without mp3s, or even CDs, for that matter, but cassettes were our weapon of choice way back when, and I distinctly remember hearing the song “Yesterday” through all that recorded tape hiss and loving every lo-fi minute of it.
Later on, around ‘89 or ‘90, a really cool kid named Daryl moved to BC from New Jersey and brought a whole new batch of punk cassettes with him. Daryl was a freestyle bicycle rider (GT Pro Performer, anyone?), and while our crew was comprised almost exclusively of skaters, he was into punk and hardcore, which made for an instant bond between us. I’ll never forget that day in 10th grade when he loaned me his Bad Religion Suffer tape and said, “I think you will like this one.” To say Suffer immediately struck a chord with me would be an understatement, and it remains in my top 10 punk albums of all time well over 20 years later (I also tried to keep his tape for 20 years).
Around this time some of us had reached the milestone of sixteen and were driving, so regular weekend trips to Las Vegas record stores like Benway Bop, Tower Records, and The Underground in search of new music were in order. Our love for Bad Religion continued through high school, and we logically followed the band through No Control and Against The Grain. It wasn’t until I picked up Generator at Benway in 1992 that my interest in BR seriously began to wane.
Sure, Generator had it’s moments, but the band seemed to lose a bit of steam with the loss of Pete Finestone on drums and Bobby Schayer as his replacement. BR then went almost entirely with a more mid-paced rock sound on their major label debut, Recipe For Hate, which completely turned me off to their music for quite some time (I remember bumming out big time on Eddie Vedder’s guest vocals when RFH dropped and now I actually like and respect Pearl Jam). I checked in with Bad Religion here and there over the next nine years and heard a random mix of decent songs and some absolutely horrible cuts, but I still have yet to jam any of the major label albums from beginning to end.
I didn’t have a real renewed interest in BR until their return to Epitaph and the release of 2002’s The Process of Belief. Like True North, TPoB was billed as a return to their roots, and the fact that Mr. Brett had rejoined the band after a lengthy hiatus certainly made that theory seem plausible. I really thought that was a great album, but they lost me again after that with The Empire Strikes First, yet another record comprised mostly of mid-paced rock songs, and I neglected to revisit their current material until the hype regarding this new album peaked my interest.
Back to True North, which is again being compared to some of Bad Religion’s very best work. I suppose I can hear a resemblance to Suffer and Against the Grain in that the songs are melodic, mostly fast, and rather short, but it’s not quite as aggressive as those early albums. It almost goes without saying that Greg Graffin continues to pen solid lyrics, and the recording is again top notch, although a bit much at times. In fact, due to the quality and precision of the production here, a friend jokingly asked me if the album was recorded by robots, which may have something to do with having three uber-talented guitarists in a punk rock band.
A few particular tracks on True North are worth noting. “Fuck You” initially seemed super silly, but it actually works and is intelligently written. “Dharma and the Bomb” is the oddball sounding track like Against The Grain’s “21st Century Digital Boy,” and features a SoCal surf-punk sound. “Crisis Time” has a rad lead guitar line and is probably my favorite song on the album. And per usual, BR always seems to have a good closer a la “Pessimistic Lines” or “Walk Away,” and this time is no different with “Changing Tide.”
I think it’s safe to say that Bad Religion is basically The Ramones of my generation for the following reasons: they have released multiple albums over two decades plus, they have a trademark sound that can grow tired at times, and they have a few failed experiments on their musical resume. That being said, diehard Bad Religion fans will surely regard True North as one of the band’s better outings. For me personally, it is a decent reminder as to why BR was my favorite band at one point in time.
-Lance Wells
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