Bad Religion: The Empire Strike First
2004
Epitaph Records
Format I own it on: Compact Disc
Track Listing: 1. Overture 2. Sinister Rouge 3. Social Suicide 4. Atheist Peace 5. All There Is 6. Los Angeles Is Burning 7. Let Them Eat War 8. God's Love 9. To Another Abyss 10. The Quickening 11. The Empire Strikes First 12. Beyond Electric Dreams 13. Boot Stamping on a Human Face Forever 14. Live Again (The Fall of Man)
Bad Religion's 13th album, was released right in the thick of the George W Bush administration, so naturally Bad Religion doesn't sound too happy. They righteously rail against war, inequality and religion, and give probably their most pissed-off performance in the process. There's a pitch black cloud hovering over the entire event, and they sound beyond passionate, but somehow only about half of this clicks for me...
This album does pack quite a few knockout punches though...After a brief atmospheric into, the band explodes into their most intense songs ever! With its hyper-speed guitar chugging and double-bass drum, "Sinister Rouge" sounds like Bad Religion's take on speed-metal. The harmonies take on an eerie quality as the band rages against the church, even invoking the sexual abuse scandal that was going on in the Catholic Church at the time...(and probably is still going on...). You may feel bad for enjoying it so much, but c'mon...how do you not bang your head to this?!!
They also pull off a couple of winning pop tracks on the single "Los Angeles is Burning" and "Is That All There Is?" which are tied with "Sinister Rouge" as the album's finest moments...
The rest of the album swings back and forth between furious hardcore and doomy rockers...There's even a rapper on "Let Them Eat War." He's not one of those rims and bee-yotches rappers though...
He's more of the political backpack type of rapper...but yea...there's a Bad Religion song that has rap in it now, so I guess that was notable...The other day me and Jens were reminiscing about the fact there was a Rush song back in the 90's where Geddy Lee rapped... If for some reason you've never heard it or have successfully erased from your memory like I had, I hate to dredge this back up for you, but you've GOT to hear this for your life to be complete...
Alright...Sorry, to put you through all that... To sum things up, despite a few tracks that hold up to "Process of Belief" I feel this record isn't quite up to that album's rousing comeback, but it really does distinguish itself with its political fire. Check it out if you're feeling nostalgic for 2004 for some unholy reason...
The same year that brought us the revelation that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction after all in Iraq...
...the trail of death and destruction brought on by Hurricane Ivan...
...and Janet Jackson's titty...
Oh well...at least we got "Sinister Rouge" by Bad Religion out of it...
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