Album Review: Bad Religion – Age Of Unreason

I don’t need to introduce Bad Religion or the label Epitaph Records, If you don’t who they are and what they stand for by now then you haven’t been paying attention, or you’ve come to wrong website. Bad Religion are now approaching their 40th anniversary and the release of Age Of Unreason will see the band release their 17th studio album. It’s not often a band that’s been around for this length of time is going to pull anything new out of the bag and with Age Of Unreason you do get everything you’d expect from a Bad Religion album, fast political melodic punk rock with those trademark vocal harmonies that few do better. What marks out the Age of Unreason is it’s emergence in the current political climate that has seen the unwelcome rise of the far right, if anything was ever going to galvanise a band like Bad Religion then that would be the catalyst.

From the opening track, lead single Chaos From Within, you’re hit by the fact that Bad Religion sound more urgent and driven than ever, if you discount 1983’s Into The Unknown I can’t recall a Bad Religion that I didn’t like but Age Of Unreason is up their with their best releases, yes it is that good. By the time I hit the third track, Do The Paranoid Style, my usual cynicism about a new release from one of punk’s elder statesmen has completely evaporated, this is Bad Religion back to their very best, infectious melodic punk rock with an intelligent and coherent message. Bad Religion have always been passionate advocates for humanism, reason, and individualism, recently we have seen the political climate on both sides of the Atlantic descending into an abyss where these values are discarded and nationalism, jingoism and bigotry are floating to the surface, now more than ever Bad Religion’s message has never been more relevant or essential. 

The Epitaph Records website can be found here

Bad Relgion‘s website is here