I can only hope that when I’m approaching middle-age territory like the band members of BAD RELIGION (minus Mr. Wackerman), I have the same kind of incidienary, yet reflective charge to my persepctive on life. The urgency reflected on “The Empire Strikes First,” the band’s umptheenth full-length, is at once, and as expected, both defiant, and stunningly relevant to the current, polarized political and social environment. But BAD RELIGION are no meek sloganeers – the band, focused through the effusive (and academic) wisdom of Greg Graffin are social scientists, chomping at the bit to reverse a downward spiral that much of the American populace continues to reinforce. This cauldron of energy basks nearly brighter than ever on “The Empire Strikes First,” as BAD RELIGION, musically, continues to define the boundaries of the melodic hardcore genre that they so dynamically constructed two decades earlier. Kicking off this release, for the first time in BAD RELIGION history, is a short, instrumental tune called “Overture,” which stirs up the air for something real big. That ‘something real big’ is actually a graceful merger into the thunderous, double-bass leading, face rippling’ “Sinister Rouge.” The former is perhaps one of the heaviest songs ever written by the band, and its two minutes of jet-propulsion intensity slaps the listener with a most gratifying, blood-pumping effect. (Think back to the whiplash effects of “Big Bang” and “Automatic Man.”) From there, “The Empire Strikes First” settles into a rapid-fire groove, with the next three tracks, “Social Suicide,” “Atheist Peace,” and “All There Is,” stomping cohesively right into the brillant standout, and first single, the mid-paced, “Los Angeles Is Burning.” With Graffin’s indelible tone, and the band’s trademarked oozin ahhs on hand, this mid-paced classic sing-along recalls the best of the band’s back catalog, in the vein of “21st Century Digital Boy,” “Infected,” and the supremely underrated “Broken,” from “The Process of Belief.” BAD RELIGION follow up “Los Angeles…” with what I believe will be the song of the year – and the undeniably harsh soundtrack to the Bush Jr. administration, “Let The Eat War.” You don’t have to be a “loony-lefty” to appreciate the snarky, fatalistic perspective offered on this song, and the band’s lyrical collaboration with rapper Sage Francis, delivers one of the release’s truly defining, majestic moments. The second half of “The Empire Strikes First” noticeably tracks the band moving into more developed/experimental territory. The catchy, but scathing “God’s Love” smacks of Graffin’s usual bitting wit, and the tenth track, “The Quickening,” features the band in an all out, intoxicating binge of musical showmanship, with all three guitars ablaze, and drumming that seems beyond the powers of mankind. The title track to this release is stylistically reminescent of Graffin’s previously outlandish lead vocal endeavors (“I Love My Computer” anyone?), but overall Graffin’s sickly pleasurable singing of “EM-P-I-R-E,” is bound to get bottled into your head, and the song’s lyrical focus on the United States’ ‘we’ll get you first’ approach to war with Iraq, leaves no target unblemished. The beauty in BAD RELIGION’s political undercurrent is that it treats both the listener and the target with respect – these are songs that can easily test the strength of time, and survive challenges of fleeting, finger-pointing passion. The final three songs on here are the most enigmatic of the bunch, with the “Atomic Garden” like tune, “Beyond Electric Dreams”; the folky, jangly (and ultimately, disappointing) rock of “Boot Stamping on A Human Face Forever”; and lastly, the epic searing finale, “Live Again – The Fall of Man.” The last tune is particularly appropriate, in that what BAD RELIGION conquers on this release is not so much an outpouring of negativity, but what it counters through inspiration, continuous with the band’s 20 plus year path – that there is another side to life, and that we have the choice to embrace and propser along that other path, or we can continue to stew in our own morass. Make no bones about it, “The Empire Strikes First” is another legendary BAD RELIGION release that deserves to stand tall among the band’s already historical discography. You’re honestly cheating yourself if you pass this one up.

Epitaph

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