Bad Religion No Substance CD

Bad Religion: Greg Graffin, Brian Baker, Greg Hetson, Jay Bentley, Bobby Schayer.
Additional personnel: Campino.
Producers: Bad Religion, Alex Perialas, Ronnie Kimball.
Engineers: Bad Religion, Alex Perialas, Ronnie Kimball.
Recorded at Pyramid Sound, Polypterus Studio, Ithaca, New York.
Audio Mixer: Chris Lord-Alge.
Recording information: Polypterus Studio, Ithaca, NY; Pyramid Sound, Ithaca, NY.
Photographers: Terry Richardson; Chris Toliver.
Talk about a return to form. 1996's misproduced, flat-sounding, disappointing The Gray Race (a good LP for most bands but a poor one for Bad Religion) had both critics and fans wondering if this U.S. underground institution could prosper despite the loss of key guitarist BRETT GUREWITZ, who'd written half the songs on the first eight albums, as well as provided much of the essential attitude. (Gurewitz had left the quintet in 1994 following an argument with bassist JAY BENTLEY, allowing "Mr. Brett" to better concentrate on his about-to-explode Epitaph label, which Bad Religion launched prior to signing to Atlantic). Gurewitz's departure meant that singer GREG GRAFFIN was now left to compose all the songs himself. And though the real blame for The Gray Race must go to its producer, ex-CARS star RIC OCASEK (the material sounded so much better live!), who failed for the third time to adequately produce a punk LP (he botched two BAD BRAINS LPs a decade apart), a good half of the album also suffered from weak writing, implying Graffin was not up to the enlarged task. No need to think that any longer. Following on the heels of his first, sparkling solo LP, self-titled under the name AMERICAN LESION, No Substance makes two totally opposite, great Graffin-penned LPs written and recorded within the same year. He can and he will carry the band as a writer. And with material and production back up to snuff, the group is once more the most exciting punk band around, as they've been for a decade. In fact, since 1994's Stranger Than Fiction was certified gold in March, Bad Religion's momentum is back in all ways. Was Graffin distracted during The Gray Race by his divorce, the uprooting of his family and the self-critical upheaval it unleashed, so detailed in all its misery, anguish, anger, spite, and longing on American Lesion? Whatever the reason for this mass 1997 outpouring, he seems refreshed, refocused and sharp throughout No Substance. And perhaps his sad personal experiences piqued and spiked his outward-looking sociopolitical awareness, for there's an even bigger bug-in-his-rug this time. If you happen to miss it in the merciless disrelish of "Mediocre Minds" and "At the Mercy of the Imbeciles," it's spelled out in "The State of the End of the Millennium Address," a spoken-word litany of contemporary complaints swathed in sarcasm, forming a companion to "The Voice of God is Government" (from 1982's debut How Could Hell Be Any Worse?) with its flashback town-cry of "Neighbors!" Just as importantly, by 1) self-producing No Substance with engineers ALEX PERIALAS and the group's live soundman RONNIE KIMBALL, 2) doing much of the recording at ease in Graffin's fully-equipped Ithaca, NY home studio, Polypterus, and 3) hiring ace mixer CHRIS LORD-ALGE to make the final sound crunchy, Bad Religion restored the fiery assault from their older records and tours to back Graffin's lyrical daggers. Moreover, for the first time since 1993's Recipe For Hate, they've stopped worrying whether their fans are fretting now that they're on a major label, and have thus revisited the variety of tempos and styles that they'd finally attempted on that LP-after several albums before (and since) with a more narrow focus. Such expansiveness pays off here big-time. Significantly, Bad Religion pays tribute on No Substance to the more open-minded new wave era, to the less-rushed, late-'70s L.A. punk scene that inspired the band's formation there in 1980. The opening of the first track "Hear It" recreaRolling Stone (7/9-23/98, pp.137-138) - 3 Stars (out of 5) - "...Bad Religion's politics remain unchanged....Not exactly cutting-edge radical, but not yet passe, either. And really not too shoddy..."
Entertainment Weekly (5/8/98, p.76) - "...Avoiding the agitprop sloganeering that's the band's stock in trade, Bad Religion presents their audience with hard questions rather than easy answers. Combined with their tuneful, diamond-hard punk rock, it's not only more enjoyable, but genuinely subversive." - Rating: B+