BAD RELIGION: New Maps of Hell

[teenkiller]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/ba/Bad_Religion_-_New_Maps_of_Hell.jpg

Okay so BAD RELIGION'S new album comes out today and I am really excited. I'm going to be picking it up first thing in the morning. Anybody else going to be getting this?

Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[DrJellyfingers]

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES.

I will definitely be picking it up along with the new Against Me.

[Superplasmatron]

if you want it free


http://myspacemp3.org/Default.aspx

then type badreligion into the box yay

[Brando @$$ Fat]

Their last two albums were really solid, I hope this is no exception.

[teenkiller]

Originally posted by Brando @$$ Fat
Their last two albums were really solid, I hope this is no exception.

Agreed! After their "Dark Ages" with Atlantic I had kind of lost hope but Process of Belief and especially The Empire Strikes First were fantastic. They have really redeemed themselves and I am eagerly awaiting the album which I am picking up in half an hour. Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[Brando @$$ Fat]

Originally posted by teenkiller
Agreed! After their "Dark Ages" with Atlantic I had kind of lost hope but Process of Belief and especially The Empire Strikes First were fantastic. They have really redeemed themselves and I am eagerly awaiting the album which I am picking up in half an hour. Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

It wasn't entirely a dark age. We did get Recipe for Hate, which I think is their best album. Stranger than Fiction and The Gray Race are disappointing but they do have their moments.

I actually think Bad Religion's old, early 80's stuff is their dark age. They evolved from a boring, typical high school punk band into a mature punk rock band.

[Cronos]

giving it a listen right now and so far am really liking it

[teenkiller]

Originally posted by Brando @$$ Fat
It wasn't entirely a dark age. We did get Recipe for Hate, which I think is their best album. Stranger than Fiction and The Gray Race are disappointing but they do have their moments.

I actually think Bad Religion's old, early 80's stuff is their dark age. They evolved from a boring, typical high school punk band into a mature punk rock band.

Although I'm not %100 sure I think Recipe was originally released on Epitaph. Stranger and Gray are pretty good albums but Gray feels a little... hollow. I didn't even bother with No Substance or New America. I just bought the cd but unfortunately I have to wait until after work to be able to listen to it. DAMMIT! Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[Tree0404]

they've got the whole thing streaming on their myspace page.


Its good, just like their past 2 albums....but I havent found any standout tracks.....they're all too much alike....I think that's kind of how I found their last one.
Process of Belief had some standout tracks to me though...this one just seems like a solid release but no epic tracks.

[Brando @$$ Fat]

Originally posted by teenkiller
Although I'm not %100 sure I think Recipe was originally released on Epitaph. Stranger and Gray are pretty good albums but Gray feels a little... hollow. I didn't even bother with No Substance or New America. I just bought the cd but unfortunately I have to wait until after work to be able to listen to it. DAMMIT! Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

I think it was recorded with Epitaph but they switched over to Atlantic right after so Atlantic had the rights too.

[countchocula]

New Maps of Hell is rock solid. It's a tad repetitive, but I dig the frantic drumming. And I'm actually fond of the Atlantic era. Not every song needs to be a hyper 90-second punk whirlwind. I love their mellow stuff. The New America is hit/miss, but it contains a handful of memorable tracks.

[DrJellyfingers]

Originally posted by Brando @$$ Fat
I think it was recorded with Epitaph but they switched over to Atlantic right after so Atlantic had the rights too.

if you bought the CD early, like the month it came out, it has the Epitaph logo on it. my brother has a copy like that.

[teenkiller]

Originally posted by countchocula
New Maps of Hell is rock solid. It's a tad repetitive, but I dig the frantic drumming. And I'm actually fond of the Atlantic era. Not every song needs to be a hyper 90-second punk whirlwind. I love their mellow stuff. The New America is hit/miss, but it contains a handful of memorable tracks.

It's not that I hate the Atlantic years exactly... I actually have quite enjoyed what I have heard. Shades of Truth is one of the top best songs they have ever done. My problem with those albums is that they just seem kind of... hollow. They lack the ability to make me want to run and grab a thesaurus. I'll be listening to the album in a bit and I'll post my thoughts on it after. Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[teenkiller]

I just got finished listening to it and think it's fantastic! Yeah Brooks' drumming is REALLY frantic. The whole cd really never lets up except for that one bit halfway through Fields of Mars which was pretty cool.

The album has a couple of "off" songs but overall is pretty consistent from start to finish. Every song does sound pretty much the same but that isn't a bad think because it's the signature BR sound that I love so much.

I think a few tracks do stand out though. New Dark Ages, Requiem for Dissent, Dearly Beloved, and Fields of Mars all rise above the rest. The one song I could have done without was Murder but considering there are 16 tracks having only one throw away is pretty damn good.

Worth the three year wait and a great extension of The Empire Strikes First which is probably my second or third favorite BR album of all time (behind NO CONTROL and AGAINST THE GRAIN). I'll have to listen to this one a few more times before I can decide where to rank it. Great job you guys and keep it up!

Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[teenkiller]

Now that a few months have passed, the hype has died down, and I have listened to the album several times I have to say it doesn't hold up as well with me. There are stand out tracks and the album is still a decent listen but I don't think it's as great as when I first listened to it. It's a little more bland but still tolerable. Anyone else? Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[countchocula]

I feel the same way. Have you heard Greg Graffin's folk/country album?

[Brando @$$ Fat]

Have you heard Greg Graffin's folk/country album?


Yeah, and I'm the only person I know who loved it. I first noticed the folk influence when I listened to Recipe for Hate, which is also my favorite Bad Religion album.

Sadly, I haven't heard the new album yet, which is bad because I was a committed Bad Religion fan for about five years. I love pretty much everything they've done, even their mid-nineties Atlantic stuff. If their new record is subpar, it's probably because they're growing out of their current sound and are about to move on. Bad Religion has a tendency to sound a certain way for two or three albums.

[teenkiller]

No I haven't heard Cold as the Clay yet though I supposed I should give it a listen. Have you countchocula? Any good?

Brand @$$ Fat: I agree with their being a hint of folk influence on Recipe for Hate. New Maps of Hell is hard to explain though. It doesn't sound like they're moving in a different direction or anything. I think it still has the signature BR sound to it. Short songs, fast pace, intellectual vocabulary... I guess the killer riffs just aren't as prominent. I'm no musician so I don't know how to explain it any better than that.

Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[DrJellyfingers]

I've had Cold as Clay since it came out but I've never made it through the whole album. the first song is good but I can't get into the rest.

As for New Maps, it doesn't really kick in for me until track 4, New Dark Ages. I really like Before You Die and Grain of Wrath. and then the last few tracks kind of bring it down again. not one of their best albums, I'd say Against The Grain is still my favorite.

[RandalGraves]

Love every single cd these guys do, they still kick all kinds of ass!

[dennisv]

Political bands are becoming too much of a fad these days... We get it. Bush sucks, the government sucks.

[Brando @$$ Fat]

You would have hated the 60's.

[teenkiller]

To be fair BAD RELIGION has been political since their very first album which came out in '82 so it's not like they're just hopping on some bandwagon all of a sudden. Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[Brando @$$ Fat]

There is no "bandwagon," we've had politics in music for centuries. This isn't something that's been under the radar.

[countchocula]

I liked Cold As the Clay quite a bit. "Talk About Suffering" is simply gorgeous. I actually prefer the cover songs to Graffin's originals.