Bad Religion – The Empire Strikes First

Bad Religion For President

You don’t need to be a political scientist to notice that the Bush administration has been the muse for a lot of angry music lately, nor a rock journalist to predict that soon enough Bad Religion would step up for their turn at the US political piñata. Approaching their twentieth year together, Bad Religion has waged a war of its own with The Empire Strikes First, the band’s twelfth full-length and fiercest record in years. From the liner notes to the last chord it seems no one is safe from the fury of frontmen Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz. At the top of their list are those who they deem responsible for the war in Iraq, the dishonesty of the mass media, and the lack of concern for America’s citizens. In the band’s traditional L.A. punk sound and soaring vocals, they take on the deception of blinding patriotism on “Let Them Eat War” with a charged chorus of “Let them eat war / That’s how to ration the poor/ There’s an urgent need to feed declining pride.” The media’s creation of a fear culture becomes the target on “Los Angeles is Burning” with “I cannot believe the media Mecca / They’re only trying to battle reality / Catch it on prime time, story at nine.”

The Empire Strikes First is a poetic but viciously critical attack on the political environment of the United States, an excellent combination of informed opinions over enraged power chords and breakneck drums that few bands are capable of producing.