Bad Religion – The Dissent of Man
Following
the return of founding member, Epitaph label owner and co-songwriter, Brett
Gurewitz, after the bands flirtation with the major label Atlantic, the duo of
Graffin and Gurewitz have since written and recorded three albums: The Process
of Belief, The Empire Strikes First, and New Maps of Hell, which have been
regarded by fans and critics, and self proclaimed by the band as “The Unholy
Trilogy: Part Two”; the original trilogy being: No Control, Suffer, and Against
The Grain, which are known as the bands best output. Whilst the latter trilogy
saw the band encapsulate the passion, energy, and conviction of their youthful
punk-rock days, their latest release, a clever play on words, ‘The Dissent of
Man’, represents a significant departure, coming across more as a mature rock
album, something which they failed to do with the making of Into the Unknown,
The New America, and No Substance. With some hit, and some miss, here is a run
down of the tracks from the album:
One thing
that the band have always managed to do is capture the mood of the time, and in
this part of the epoch where global protest movements are making a significant
return to humanities conscience, and the protestor was named Time Magazines
person of the year, ‘The Dissent of Man’, with it’s front cover of an angry
youth throwing an object in anger, perfectly encapsulates this period of modern
history.
The album
kicks off with ‘The Day The Earth Stalled’, which will no doubt ease in the
casual Bad Religion listener, with a familiar fast-paced rhythm, combined with
a catchy sing-along chorus, which is completed by the usual harmonious backing
vocals. And then it starts to slow down, yet the lyrical content takes a
classic Bad Religion trajectory.
‘Only Rain’
is a song about the rationality of atheism, a theme made prominent through
singer Greg Graffin’s book ‘Anarchy Evolution’. Firstly he decries the old
pre-scientific values of our ancestors by declaring, “Hey scientist please save
us from our rainy days, because your counterpart in the magic arts is
manufacturing judgement day”, and during the chorus lambasts the superstitious
naturalists, who haven’t evolved to the scientific paradigm by declaring “rain
fell like judgement, across my window pane, it felt like judgement, but it was
only rain”: Here we feel Graffin being articulate, cutting, and poignant as
ever.
The clever
play on words returns with ‘The Resist Stance’, which, as is the case with The
Day That The Earth Stalled, follows a more traditional Bad Religion song
formula. It comes across as a rallying call to all those taking a stand against
oppression, yet remains critical to the potential of an emerging dogma by
proclaiming “the state of your resolve, makes you quickly devolve into a
fundamentalist”. Hitherto, the
album stands up to the test, and then it takes a turn for the worst.
No whilst
the sentiments of the collusion between church and state echoed in the ‘Wont
Somebody’ are welcome, despite being somewhat worn, an amendment to the chorus
provides more insight into the song; “Wont Bad Religion please come up with
something, because this formula don’t seem to be impartially appealing, and all
of this song puts this album down in the ratings, so a good song we’ll have to
keep on waiting.”
If a single
was to be penned for release from this album, in order to capture the attention
of the casual alternative music listener, then ‘The Devil in Stitches’ has all
the hallmarks of a radio friendly, melodic, and catchy anthem full of great
chord progressions. It was very difficult to attach a specific meaning to the
song; Gurewitz’s lyrics are usually not as forthright as Graffins. According to
those who love their computer and regularly post on the fan site,
thebrpage.net, and Mr. Brett himself, it’s a modern love story based on a
biblical tale. Whether you believe in love or not, you’ll certainly enjoy this
song.
The dark
side to social attitudes permeates in ‘Pride and the Pallor’, which covers the
idea of superstitious and irrational behaviours originating from religious
beliefs, being passed down through generations, and this spiralling out of
control, leading to an ironically prophetic hellish existence for the human
species.
‘Wrong Way
Kids’ is a retrospective look at the Los Angeles punk-rock scene of the early
1980s, something that the band was very much involved with. The song draws
parallels with ‘You Don’t Belong’, alluding to the wrong turns some people took
in their lives, during the early days of punk rock. Themes of this calibre are
almost inevitable for a band in their late forties, yet it is relinquished from
becoming a grandeur act of self-importance by being doused with elements of
humour, such as the line ” the kids today are gone away, petitioning the dust,
with nobody to look up to, because they’re looking up to us””, and
self-mockery, with the chorus making fun of their liberal use of ‘woahs’,
goading the listener to “Singing woah, woah, wo-oo-ah”, a template copied over
from their atrocious single ‘Honest Goodbye’ on their previous record.
There is a reason
that so many academics are fans of the band, and this is due to Graffin’s
lyrical ingenuity, often able to summarise a historical or sociological essay
into a three-minute melodic harmony. ‘Meeting of the Minds’ is one of those
songs, looking at the historical transformation of rational thought, starting
in 325, through to Old Tennessee in the last century, and onwards to an idyllic
futuristic fantasy of the intelligentsia and politicians coming together to
come to the conclusion that “no longer will the market decide, what the
government will provide”. Nobody can accuse them of becoming universal cynics;
a healthy, radiant and optimistic outlook still remains in their old age.
‘Someone To
Believe’ is about the weak willed members of society, the ones who ‘find’ God
and ‘meaning’ in their life, the way in which their attitude and persona
drastically change, which “feels like a spring equinox after a long winters
sleep”. Imbeciles ‘awaken’ when they have someone [God] to believe.
Throughout
‘Anarchy Evolution’, Greg Graffin argues that evolution is an anarchic process,
in which the human species has no control over, and this relates to the theme
of the next song ‘Avalon’. It’s about the reflective phases that humans go
through in their life, and the negative impact that focussing on past regrets
can have. Yet this idea is flipped into a rallying call for people to not get
caught up with the minutiae of the past, and instead look to the future and
create your own Avalon, a place to be comfortable with when you die. This links
into the theme of the book, it’s all too easy to look back on the travesty of
human existence and take on a defeatist attitude, it’s better to create
something ideal for the here and now.
Bad Religion
have never shied away from producing a subtle song about heartache, yet none
have come across as bitter as ‘Cyanide’, a four minute epic about being apart
from a loved one, or in the case of Gurewitz, is the thing he describes as
missing akin to kissing cyanide, a reference to his days as a heroin user? If I
long for you it will make me return and deliver me to death? The bitterness is
usurped when ‘Turn Your Back On Me’ kicks in on the next track, a beautifully
sad, and brooding number.
And then the
overt politics is back with a vengeance with ‘Ad Hominem’, a scornful attack on
the bourgeoisie who think that they are divinely better than the poor. ‘Where
The Fun Is’ is not even worth mentioning and is almost inevitable that it will
be featured on the soon to be released ‘Worst of Bad Religion’ CD, entitled
‘How the hell could Bad Religion get any worse?’
As a rule of
thumb, Bad Religion have always closed their albums with a strong and catchy
number, yet ‘I Won’t Say Anything’ breaks with that tradition, and leaves it
with a flat end to the proceedings. There isn’t the usual big bang, in which we
expect from our atheist peacemakers, just a steady fade away into
insignificance, perhaps a suitable prelude to our own species’ existence.
Finite - A great track that never made the album cut
The Dissent
of Man is still out on Epitaph Records.
©Schwarzbrennen
im sure you are aware this album is 2 years old yes?
ReplyDeleteYou could probably tell from how much of a fan I am that I am aware that the record is 4 years old (2010 release). Delayed reviews are great because it allows the reviewer to have a proper listen, and spend time dissecting the lyrics and riffs.
ReplyDelete