Search - Bad Religion :: New Maps of Hell

Not perfect, but still very very good.

Alex Nennig | New London, WI | 01/08/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ah, Bad Religion, one of the veteran punk bands that with each new album, you pretty much know what you're getting before you even take off the shrink wrap.



Not surprisingly, then, "New Maps Of Hell" sounds like those other Bad Religion albums you have. Lots of fast tempos, good melodies, self righteous lyrics belted out melodically by the husky-voiced Greg Graffin, and every couple of songs you hit one of those darned chord sequences you've already heard them use before over and over and over and over again.



Still, the formula works quite well, and on this album, most of the songs are great. There are even a few stylistic flourishes too. For instance:



-"Fields Of Mars" has a huge huge HUGE soaring anthemic chorus! Its great!



-"New Dark Ages" is halfway to being an Iron Maiden song, with the galloping drums, the dual guitar harmonized lead lines, and the muted chords going jiggajiggajiggajigga just like in all those speed metal songs. Its also great!



-"Honest Goodbye" appears to be a Weezer song of some sort. The liner notes credit it to the band, but I know Rivers Cuomo had to have written this thing. Seriously, the mid-tempo chug, the minor-key-but-poppy "Whoa-oh-whoa-oh-whoa"s in the chorus, the sustained-note lead lines, the way the chords drop out at the start of the verse leaving the bass chug along with the drums... its absolutely a Weezer song. Its not a bad Weezer song, but it sounds super weird coming from a bunch of 80's punk icons!



The rest are most everything you'd expect from a very good BR album, there's just enough generic, average sounding songs to keep me from giving it a 5 out of 5, but all in all, its a darn good Bad Religion album.



If you like Bad Religion at all, you'll find a lot to love about "New Maps Of Hell.""