The Empire Strikes First
by Steven Sandor

Vue Weekly, no. 452, June 16, 2004

Bad Religion The Empire Strikes First (Epitaph) It would be harder to find a modern punk band that has as many anthems in its repertoire as Bad Religion. For anyone familiar with punk, all I have to do is write “I’m a 21st-century digitalllll boyyyyyyy” or “Come out to play.... Come out to play... and we’ll pretend it’s Christmas Day in myyyyyyy ah-tomm-ic...” and chances are those tunes will be in your head all day long. Unfortunately, I think this is the first-ever BR record I’ve heard that doesn’t contain one of those signature punk anthems. And that’s awfully ironic, considering that The Empire Strikes First may be the most politically inflammatory record the band has ever recorded. Not only does it feature scathing commentary on the current U.S. president (“Let Them Eat War”) but it also features the most provocative pro-atheism, anti-religion lyrics they’ve ever penned. To BR, fundamentalist Christianity is the monster that created George W. and cannot be separated from the new America. “Sinister Rouge” compares the modern wrongs of the Catholic Church to its bloody past; on “God’s Love,” Greg Graffin asks, “Tell me, where is the love in a careless creation?” and “Atheist Peace” is a call to Western society to reject religion—“From the faith that you release comes an atheist peace.” It could have been BR’s most provocative album... if only it had just one or two of those killer singalong melodies.

3 / 5