Bad Religion - New Mapsof Hell

Mon 9th Jul, 2007 in Music Reviews

It’s hard to believe, but New Maps of Hell marks Bad Religion’s fourteenth full-length release. For anyone that has lost track over the years, the band currently consists of Greg Graffin, original bassist Jay Bentley, Brett Gurewitz who has been on board again since the last couple albums, Greg Hetson (ex-Circle Jerks), Brian Baker (ex-Minor Threat) and relatively unknown drum prodigy, Brooks Wackerman.

Considering it’s the same lineup as the last album it’s no surprise it sounds almost like The Empire Strikes Back (part II). Fundamentally it’s pretty much the same old Bad Religion we have all come to know and love, that fiercely intense punk rock with an outlook on what’s wrong with the world and what needs fixing.

There’s plenty of material on this release, sixteen tracks all up, and a nice selection of tracks that are somewhat varied in style. 52 Seconds is hardcore in the sense of fast, aggressive punk rock (and it’s a slight lie, it goes for 57 seconds!), and opens up the album as a great call to attention.

Reading through the liner notes, it looks like singer Greg Graffin has been using his time as a college professor to boost his vocabulary and set a challenge for himself to use the most mind-boggling phrases and words in his lyrics. Sometimes you have to ask yourself – œWhy?’ when the lyrics become so confusing they ironically devoid the song of any meaning it should have had.

There are plenty of those backing “oohs” and “aahs”, plodding basslines and fiery guitar solos, but all this really goes to prove is that perhaps they’ve found their songwriting comfort zone and aren’t too willing to branch out. As noted before, the album is varied in style, but it doesn’t sound too different to what we have heard many times before from these guys.

For a lot of the time it seems like this album was put out simply because they had written a bunch of songs and figured it might be a good idea. The album seems to have one or two good songs, then a bunch of four or so that are relatively mediocre, followed by another interesting track. After several listens, I still find the tracks between 2-5 all blend into each other, and most times I’m left wondering how it got to track six so quickly when I could have sworn there were only 2 songs before it.

Murder is another short track, coming in at tenth slot lasting slightly longer than 60 seconds. Its raw and punchy feel grabs you momentarily, but the lack of hooks usually found in their sing-a-long style makes it an easily forgettable track.

There are some great tracks in there, don’t get me wrong, but there are also plenty of snoozers. They’re on their own (well, Brett’s own) label, surely they don’t have the same kind of pressures as other bands do to consistently and constantly need to release albums. Epitaph / Bad Religion could have released a shit-hot EP with just five of those sixteen tracks, but throw them in with eleven run-of-the-mill songs and you have yourself a fairly mediocre album.