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Review of the Empire
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Posted by: admin | 04/04/2004 at 02:48
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From "Punk and Junk.com"
Well a review for the new Bad Religion out in 2 months 5 days, thanks to my good friend Marco. Lately with Epitaph I've seen (and plenty of you I'm sure have also seen) that Brett has started to release a lot of crappy music and compare Bad Religion now to the older Bad Religion. No more scruffy look, no more red hair on Brett etc. So I was expecting this album could be pretty disapointing and boy I was wrong, very wrong!
The first track "Overture" is an intro track, when I heard the guitar part I had a feeling it could be a slightly mellow album but when you get to the second track "Sinister Rouge" you realize how wrong I am and how well it fits it.
"Sinister Rouge" has one of the coolest intros, it reminds me a little of "Sorrow" with all of them singing and the speed makes it brilliant. This is real Bad Religion style and a fucking sweet way to start the album. The chorus "Sinister rouge, coming back for more" and the backing vocals, fuck yeah! And you get a sweet solo thrown in bringing back the great old Bad Religion solos. Great first full track, short and very sweet.
"Social Suicide" is like the type of Bad Religion you've been hearing in the newer albums and it's very good. Brett's great vocals, quick lyrics, Bad Religions backing vocals, it all fits too well. And I have to say the drums in this track are really, really good, I love them.
The first three songs are from 1:35-1:57 and "Atheist Peace" reminds me of "American Jesus" mainly and again, short and sweet.
"All There Is" begins quickly with a quick guitar slide scratch. "This song goes out to all the hopeless sinners". This song portrays how great a lyrics and the solo is fucking, fucking, fucking, fucking great! Like "Suffer" I think, quick and very good.
"Los Angeles is Burning", a rip off of Lawrence Arm's "Chicago is Burning"? No, obviously not since Lawrence Arms and Bad Religion don't really sound anything a like. But again a sweet song, another cool solo and if you gave me part of this song I could tell immediately it was Bad Religion.
From some of the lyrics it sounds a lot like George Bush and the War on Iraq etc have been an influence on the lyrics, especially on "Let Thm Eat War". It's not one of the simple, punk songs against Bush and war etc. As I've said Greg Graffin can write incredible lyrics and this song again shows us it.
"God's Love" isn't like most of Bad Religion songs, it shifts them more into the punk rock most punk bands play which is pretty sweet. It's pretty sweet.
"To Another Abyss" is the longest song on the album (4:07) and personally I'm not much of a fan of it, it's pretty slow, not a song you'd move to. It's a good song but a little boring. The chorus saves it a bit but not a great deal. It's a song that will probably take a bit to grow on me.
"The Quickening" brings the album back to good old BR, and the solo at the start of this song reminds me of the band Running Out which is really, really good (Yes Marco will be very happy with this haha!) The solo at the end of this song though would have to be my favourite off the whole album, fucking sweet and really, really good. A great song.
Now for the song with the title of the album "The Empire Strikes First". This song is a little unusual I think, again I'm not a huge fan, the solos are good but the verses are unusual, I like the chorus though. And also this song is one of those which fades out and I've never been a big fan of songs which do that.
"Beyond Electric Dreams" has a strange name but when you hear the lyrics you understand it better. The guitar intro at the start is cool, sounds kinda raw. The bridge at around 2:00 is pretty awesome and it's a cool end to the song. For 4:02 this is a really good song.
"Boot Stamping on a Human Face" is how I was imaging how most of the album would be, a clean guitar for a while. I do really like this song though, the lyrics go over the simple clean guitar and the distorted one really well and then when the chorus comes in I realize what a great song it is. If more songs were like this I don't think I'd actually be complaining, this a sweet song.
And now it's goodbye "Live Again - the Fall of Man" and what a perfect outro track. The verse reminds me of "Sorrow" a lot, espeically the drums and the chorus too. For it to be Bad Religion perfect I was hoping for a solo near the end and I got one and it fits perfectly! Great calm vocals from Greg, the bass and guitars go really well together and so do the drums. Ending with "Live again, live again. Would you give it all up to live again..." A really great way to finish the album.
With what I was expecting I will now have to go and beat myself up as I was really wrong, Bad Religion still know how the punk rock very well and their own style still works great. Some songs on the album can get a little boring but bah! On June the 8th 2004, you shall go to your nearest record store and demand "Bad Religion - The Empire Strikes First".
Thanks to Thom for this news.
Well a review for the new Bad Religion out in 2 months 5 days, thanks to my good friend Marco. Lately with Epitaph I've seen (and plenty of you I'm sure have also seen) that Brett has started to release a lot of crappy music and compare Bad Religion now to the older Bad Religion. No more scruffy look, no more red hair on Brett etc. So I was expecting this album could be pretty disapointing and boy I was wrong, very wrong!
The first track "Overture" is an intro track, when I heard the guitar part I had a feeling it could be a slightly mellow album but when you get to the second track "Sinister Rouge" you realize how wrong I am and how well it fits it.
"Sinister Rouge" has one of the coolest intros, it reminds me a little of "Sorrow" with all of them singing and the speed makes it brilliant. This is real Bad Religion style and a fucking sweet way to start the album. The chorus "Sinister rouge, coming back for more" and the backing vocals, fuck yeah! And you get a sweet solo thrown in bringing back the great old Bad Religion solos. Great first full track, short and very sweet.
"Social Suicide" is like the type of Bad Religion you've been hearing in the newer albums and it's very good. Brett's great vocals, quick lyrics, Bad Religions backing vocals, it all fits too well. And I have to say the drums in this track are really, really good, I love them.
The first three songs are from 1:35-1:57 and "Atheist Peace" reminds me of "American Jesus" mainly and again, short and sweet.
"All There Is" begins quickly with a quick guitar slide scratch. "This song goes out to all the hopeless sinners". This song portrays how great a lyrics and the solo is fucking, fucking, fucking, fucking great! Like "Suffer" I think, quick and very good.
"Los Angeles is Burning", a rip off of Lawrence Arm's "Chicago is Burning"? No, obviously not since Lawrence Arms and Bad Religion don't really sound anything a like. But again a sweet song, another cool solo and if you gave me part of this song I could tell immediately it was Bad Religion.
From some of the lyrics it sounds a lot like George Bush and the War on Iraq etc have been an influence on the lyrics, especially on "Let Thm Eat War". It's not one of the simple, punk songs against Bush and war etc. As I've said Greg Graffin can write incredible lyrics and this song again shows us it.
"God's Love" isn't like most of Bad Religion songs, it shifts them more into the punk rock most punk bands play which is pretty sweet. It's pretty sweet.
"To Another Abyss" is the longest song on the album (4:07) and personally I'm not much of a fan of it, it's pretty slow, not a song you'd move to. It's a good song but a little boring. The chorus saves it a bit but not a great deal. It's a song that will probably take a bit to grow on me.
"The Quickening" brings the album back to good old BR, and the solo at the start of this song reminds me of the band Running Out which is really, really good (Yes Marco will be very happy with this haha!) The solo at the end of this song though would have to be my favourite off the whole album, fucking sweet and really, really good. A great song.
Now for the song with the title of the album "The Empire Strikes First". This song is a little unusual I think, again I'm not a huge fan, the solos are good but the verses are unusual, I like the chorus though. And also this song is one of those which fades out and I've never been a big fan of songs which do that.
"Beyond Electric Dreams" has a strange name but when you hear the lyrics you understand it better. The guitar intro at the start is cool, sounds kinda raw. The bridge at around 2:00 is pretty awesome and it's a cool end to the song. For 4:02 this is a really good song.
"Boot Stamping on a Human Face" is how I was imaging how most of the album would be, a clean guitar for a while. I do really like this song though, the lyrics go over the simple clean guitar and the distorted one really well and then when the chorus comes in I realize what a great song it is. If more songs were like this I don't think I'd actually be complaining, this a sweet song.
And now it's goodbye "Live Again - the Fall of Man" and what a perfect outro track. The verse reminds me of "Sorrow" a lot, espeically the drums and the chorus too. For it to be Bad Religion perfect I was hoping for a solo near the end and I got one and it fits perfectly! Great calm vocals from Greg, the bass and guitars go really well together and so do the drums. Ending with "Live again, live again. Would you give it all up to live again..." A really great way to finish the album.
With what I was expecting I will now have to go and beat myself up as I was really wrong, Bad Religion still know how the punk rock very well and their own style still works great. Some songs on the album can get a little boring but bah! On June the 8th 2004, you shall go to your nearest record store and demand "Bad Religion - The Empire Strikes First".
Thanks to Thom for this news.
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04/15/2004 at 16:38
I just got done listening to some of the tracks off this album. I thought "let them eat war" was particularly good. It was a bold move putting in Sage Francis, but i think it works well in the song. I'm a little dissapointed with some of the other tracks and thought the chorus in "sinister rouge" was a little unimaginitive. I cant speak for the tracks i havent heard, but i think this album is pretty solid although it may not be as good as Process of Belief.
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04/06/2004 at 03:10
The review is rubbish. Too many allusions to "good old BR" when the guy is obviously barely in his twenties, if that, and he uses "sweet" too often. But I guess Bad Religion can't help if semi-literates listen to them. As far as the record, it's solid but nothing more. Some hooks are OK, others just grind to an anticlimax (Boot Stamping on a Human Face Forever, for example). It's nothing they haven't done before. It really seems that Graffin's PhD influenced this album heavily (seeking answers in atheism, etc.) All in all, a fair listen with a few true gems thrown in: Los Angeles Is Burning, Let Them Eat War, and God's Love.
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04/06/2004 at 03:00
This is definately Recipe for Hate meets Process of Belief, I can't believe how good of a record this is.
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04/05/2004 at 17:53
This cd is good, but different. Sort of like a new Recipe for Hate. Athiest Peace is one of the top five BR songs ever written. While I like albums like Generator and Against the Grain better, I like Greg's singing on this album more. It seems like after he did American Lesion he changed the way he sang. It went from great, to absolutely awesome. He has a sense of urgency on this cd that I feel has been lacking since Generator. Brooks Wackerman's drumming is absolutely incredible. I am surprised that no one ever tried to make the argument that the last two or three albums Bobby Schayer drummed on sucked because his drumming went downhill. On The New America and No Substance he clearly wasnt as good as he was on Generator, where he was absolutely incredible. Well back to this album I would give it an 8.5/10. Better, and less pandering than The Process of Belief.
p.s. Does anyone else think that the song The Empire Strikes First sounds exactly like 21st Century Digital Boy. |
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04/05/2004 at 10:02
Scouring the horizon clean of any human seeds would be the opposite of SETI.
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04/05/2004 at 08:52
By the way, I wonder what the reviewer thinks Beyond Electric Dreams is about. I can't understand half the lyrics, but from what I can understand, it's quite strange.
For me, it sparks images of the SETI project. I don't know about the outro: "Let's scour the horizon clean of any trace of human seeds..." It scares me :-) |
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04/05/2004 at 08:46
can we all agree this album is better than the previous one yes or no
Tough to say. It's quite a good album, but I think, like PoB, that it is a step closer to a more "mainstream" punk style. I'm also a bit disappointed by the rap bit. I'll get back to you in a few weeks after it's really sunk in :) |
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04/05/2004 at 03:55
Correction: That pretty much sums it up, although it does sound like it was written by a 14-year-old and it's terribly written.
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04/05/2004 at 03:09
can we all agree this album is better than the previous one yes or no
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04/05/2004 at 01:25
""God's Love" isn't like most of Bad Religion songs, it shifts them more into the punk rock most punk bands play which is pretty sweet. It's pretty sweet."
Who wrote this review??? It sounds like it was written by a 14 year old. |
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04/04/2004 at 22:04
I agree with Eddy, this isn't a very good review at all. Saying 'sweet' constantly gets pretty damn annoying.
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04/04/2004 at 21:26
yea, i found that review to be somewhat... umm, useless and misinformed. the new album rocks, but like Richard and Eddy said, who in their right mind continually calls the album sweet and talks about how much they love the little solo around 2minutes before the bridge into the 3rd chorus? i hope we see some better reviews... and by better, i mean good ones...
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04/04/2004 at 20:12
Well...I found the new album on SoulSeek...so I'll give you guys a proper review once I hear it about 15 times like I most likely will..
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04/04/2004 at 16:45
Sorry, this review was very punk rawk. Time to shave that mohawk, skippy.
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04/04/2004 at 16:27
What a pathetic review. How many times is the word "sweet" used? For fuck's sake guys, this is a good site, don't screw it up with crap like this.
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04/04/2004 at 14:48
very vad superficial review with comparisons that dont make sense, "All There is" similar to Suffer? there in not a single song on suffer that is similar to that. and saying songs are short and sweer or long and boring is not a review, its a lack of vocabulary. please someone make a real review or let it be.
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04/04/2004 at 14:44
Repeatedly saying sweet and fucking great doesn't make a good review.
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04/04/2004 at 10:58
Although this preview/review is his opinion,
he explains it well, a good preview/review! |
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04/04/2004 at 07:56
all i can say is total awesomeness... i mean, shit, this is simply amazing, ive only listened to it on crappy laptop speakers, but i can only imagine how great it will sound through a great speaker system or car stereo... i vote 11 out of 10... yes thats right, an 11... PUNK ROCK!!!!
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04/04/2004 at 07:42
Live Again is one of their best outros ever. I gotta say.. the lyrics on this CD are even better than TPOB.
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04/04/2004 at 05:31
you mean gregs great vocals on social suicide right or am i missing something
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04/04/2004 at 05:18
I Agree i guess BUT i find it rather strange that at the beginning he says that Bad Religion has going a little into the boring spectrum of punk rock and then he says how great everything is and really has Bad Religion changed all that much?!?! You don't want to tell me that you haven't changed a bit over the course of 20+ years. Come on! Green hair hasn't made anyone punk yet!
And YES the album i'll give a 9/10 |
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04/04/2004 at 04:54
I agree with near all of that review, but about the Title track, I like that song very much, one of the those songs you sing along to, no matter how bad you sing. One of my favorites on the cd - mp3 set ;)
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04/04/2004 at 03:32
Agree with everything he said except about To Another Abyss, just because it?s slow doesnt mean boring, it?s a great song.
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04/04/2004 at 03:20
That pretty much sums it up.
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