Category: | Review - | Publish date: | 1/1/2002 |
Source: | Cro-Mag, January 2002 | ||
Synopsis: |
The Process Of Belief
by Alex Siquig
Cro-Mag, January 2002
Bad Religion: The Process of Belief
Epitaph Records
4.5
The buzz saw guitars of Greg Hetson (Circle Jerks), Brian Baker (Minor Threat) and Brett Gurewitz (The Daredevils) wind their way over one another like a pair of slithering six string snakes. The bass of Jay Bentley (a former member of T.S.O.L) joins in quietly but no doubt with the same intensity, paving the way for the furious drums and the man who sits behind them, Brooks Wackerman (Suicidal Tendencies). A few moments of classic punk. The vocals make their first appearance here, the rough esteemed voice of Greg Graffin never ceases to amaze me with its trademark sound of scarcely contained fury mingled with harmony. This is Bad Religion and with the release of their new record The Process of Belief, it appears that they are back in the game. With a life span of over twenty years Bad Religion are one of the longest surviving bands to emerge from the early 80’s LA based punk scene. There is a reason for that of course, and most of that reason has to do with two men who met in high school, one Wisconsin transplant Gregory Graffin and one Los Angeles native/future high school dropout/millionaire business man Brett Gurewitz. Two intensely intelligent teenagers saw how it was and clearly wanted to get in on the action of the times (apparently they were two of about eight punks at their high school at a time when being a punk was actually dangerous). It wasn’t all about being in a band though since it turned out these two guys actually had a lot to say. And they said it through two EP’s and eight albums before one of them called it quits. Right after Stranger than Fiction (1994) was recorded Brett Gurewitz declared his record company Epitaph Records more in need of him than the band itself. Though clearly Graffin is an extremely talented songwriter the absence of Mr. Brett took it’s toll. For three albums (two being very bad (The Gray Race {1996} and The New America {2000}) struggled to find his stride but it never quite clicked. To quote a line of his, “I’m just a faded negative of an image I used to be”. But earlier this year Mr. Brett returned and it seems that just his presence has infused Graffin with a new found energy and hunger for the classic Bad Religion style. Fans all over the world rejoiced as one of the best duo’s reunited. The speedy opener “Supersonic” is a good indication of the rest of the album. Clearly the classic sound has returned but there is still an edge of experimentation in the air but it is clearly artistic Recipe For Hate-like experimentation as opposed to the dreadful bubblegum New America experimentation. The next two songs both clock under the two minute mark and continue the sonic assault of these old school punk rockers. Graffin’s vocals haven’t been so intense in years, and it’s been awhile since you thought he actually believed the words he was singing. The next song, “Broken” changes the pace of the record. Intensely personal lyrics bring to mind struggles of my own and I believe the acoustic guitar heard during the verses is a first. “I said/I’m not broken/ a little cracked/ but that amounts to nothing/”. Rarely does this band dip into personal subject matter as opposed to their usual socio-economic-political-apocalyptic tirades and the results are as mixed as the dreadful “Streetkid Named Desire” and the beautifully rendered “Billy”, but “Broken” catapults itself into mid-tempo stardom. The next three songs are reminiscent of Stranger than Fiction material mingled once again with Recipe for Hate and Against the Grain, and just a tad of No Control. “Destined for Nothing” starts with a homage to perhaps the best Bad Religion song ever (Do What You Want) with the resounding cry of “Yahey!”. The next song “Materialist” features the line that led to the title of the album (note: this is their only release where there is no actual title song except their first album How Can Hell be Any Worse?) with this insightful line: “The process of belief is an elixir when you’re weak”. It also makes a reference to the mad Roman emperor Nero and I thought that was a pretty clever thing to include. “Epiphany” starts out with a bassline that is vaguely similar sounding to a NOFX song but the rest of it is a standard melodic hardcore “what’s right what is wrong what is my place in the world” [These lyrics are completely wrong; there are other mistakes in this article -ed] ballad. The next track “Evangeline” is catchy enough to become a hit on the commercial airwaves if the masses could accept it as good, which they most certainly wouldn’t. Sigh. A shame. Musical muscles are stretched with the next song, a little ditty called “The Defense” which I suspect Mr Brett wrote. He usually writes the weirder stuff. Despite being weird I have to say it’s a good song, perhaps one of the more interesting on the album especially if you listen to what is being said (well...yeah I suppose you’d be doing that) and even more so if you understand the message they are trying to convey. Of course, it’s all up to interpretation. “The Defense” is followed by another “The” song, this one appropriately titled “The Lie.” Yet another solid dose of good old fashioned punk rock. Interesting side note for this one though, the entire chorus is sung the exact same way as a b-side (“The Pretenders”) from their last record and I found this a bit odd but since it is basically a good song I won’t complain. The last two songs are a bit of a let down however, especially since one of the rules is you are supposed to end your album with a bang. “You Don’t Belong” begins with guitars trying to sound like Strung Out (my reaction to this was “Wha???????”) and once they completely end that the whole thing still remains weak with Graffin almost lazily singing about past friends and Mr. Brett giving some lackluster spoken word back-up vocals. The closer “Bored and Extremely Dangerous” is the worst Bad Religion album finale since “Stealth” which was by all accounts just Graffin saying “Hi, welcome to Stealth” and lots of barely audible sound effects. That was four albums ago! It’s a fairly good song I guess but it really reminds me too much of most of the songs from their last record which were all pretty bad. About a minute and a half through this already mediocre song the music stops and once again we are forced to listen these little sound effects until phone rings and the music starts up again. I’m sure it was intended to be dramatic but the song wasn’t up to par for such a maneuver. Aside from a few flaws that hinder it from being hailed as a future Top 3 Bad Religion Album it more than does it’s job to begin the long road of redemption. I heartily endorse The Process of Belief and when it hits stores in January I urge you all to buy it, or at least tell someone to buy it.
Just for the Sake of Posterity:
Top 5 Bad Religion Albums
1. No Control
2. Against the Grain
3. No Substance
4. The Process of Belief
5. Recipe for Hate