Bad Religion examines the 'Age Of Unreason' in May

photo: Alice Baxley

Bad Religion will release a new album, Age Of Unreason, via Epitaph Records on May 3.

“The band has always stood for enlightenment values,” Brett Gurewitz, co-songwriter/guitarist for the veteran LA punk rock group, explains. “Today, these values of truth, freedom, equality, tolerance, and science are in real danger. This record is our response.”

The track “Chaos From Within” examines the current border wall controversy with the lyrics, “Threat is urgent, existential / with patience wearing thin / but the danger's elemental / it’s chaos from within.”

As co-songwriter and lead singer Greg Graffin says, “Throughout history, walls have been used to keep the barbarians out, but it seems to me the truly barbaric aspect of a civilization is the chaos that comes from within.”

Listen to “Chaos From Within” by going here:

https://youtu.be/clI_8HnCGVo

Age Of Unreason is Bad Religion’s 17th studio album and was co-produced by Carlos de la Garza. The song “Candidate" vividly evokes the current president, “I am your candidate / I am bloody lips and makeup /I'm your caliphate, opioids and mutilation / a celebrity and my name is competition.” Another track, entitled “The Approach,” addresses the possible demise of democracy with the lyrics, “There’s a moral and intellectual vacuum / and you're right to be lookin' askance / philosophically moribund, revolution hasn't a chance.”

The overall message is to seek truth about the world and oneself. As Graffin, who holds a PhD in the history of science, says, “When I saw all these headlines about how terrible our world had become, I started doing a lot of reading. I read about the French revolution, the American Revolution, the Civil War, and I started to recognize that this is a pattern of history and something we should never venture into. There are ample warnings against it. Every school child should know this but it’s hard to get people to read about these things. Maybe this album can help. Because right now, with social media, we are just playing a version of kill the guy with the ball.”

Track listing:

Chaos From Within 

My Sanity
Do The Paranoid Style
The Approach
Lose Your Head
End of History
Age of Unreason
Candidate
Faces of Grief
Old Regime
Big Black Dog
Downfall
Since Now
What Tomorrow Brings
The Profane Rights of Man (bonus)