Album Review: Age Of Unreason by Bad Religion (by Dan Peters)

Age Of Unreason is something I was looking forward to immensely for what seems like forever. Bad Religion have been one of the biggest influences on my life and the music I’ve written. Getting brand new tunes feels a little like early Christmas. As always, I wonder if my blatant favouritism of the bands I review will make me write another gushing love letter or will my incredibly high hopes for what’s to come make the effort fall flat. Let’s find out, see you in a few hours.

It’s a very rare occasion that I’m not entirely sold on an album that’s been created by a band I love but Age Of Unreason has had me reaching for that skip button a few times which I never thought I’d be doing on a Bad Religion album. The real shame is that I really, really do love large chunks of everything here. Songs like blisteringly fast opener Chaos From Within are pretty much faultless as something brand new from the band whilst holding everything I love dear about them in a concise sub two minute package. In fact, there’s a good majority of the album that’s top draw. The Approach, title track Age Of Unreason and Old Regime are all examples of songs as good as anything Bad Religion have ever created and hold up the album as something well above average for any band but Bad Religion are just above average. Maybe I’m too fixated on them keeping their older style but songs like My Sanity, Lose Your Head and Downfall all feel like generic, middle of the road filler compared to the ones I mentioned before.

Because of the huge differences in track quality, I find myself not wanting to consume this media as a whole which is a shame. I’m old school in that regards, mostly. I like to listen to an album cover to cover instead of picking out pieces to form playlists but this is definitely a case of only some killer. Recording quality wise this is a stunning sounding album. Everything is crisp and clean and for a band as in love with layering sounds as Bad Religion, I never feel anything is overshadowed or too in the spotlight.

In conclusion, there’s some real treasure to be found in Age Of Unreason but unfortunately you’re gonna have to dig through some dirt to find it. Bad Religion are an exceptional band on the worst of days but, as a lifelong fan, I can’t help but hold them to the highest of standards and found them just missing the mark this time around.

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This review was written by Dan Peters.