Stranger Than Fiction Pop Bad Religion

it seems that bad religion s eighth lp is a rare case of selling out in reverse having signed to the big bad major wolf what big teeth you have grandma atlantic the band members seem too intent on showing their fans they re not going wimpy so they turn their back on the advances of generator and recipe for hate in order to bring back the naked aggression stranger than fiction is back to the go for the jugular stuff pretending that the wonderful modifications and variety of their recent work never existed thus the qualms about this lp it feels too regressive a sort of pandering that said if they are going to go backwards i for one am going with them there is still no one better at this stuff the opening incomplete features some of the most intense verse singing by the ever soaring greg graffin behind a muscular punishing sound helped by guest guitar from the mc5 s wayne kramer almost as storming in the same vein are philosophical songs such as leave mine to me individual tiny voices and the powerhouse marked all uptempo barnburners pulverizing in their rapid passion the biggest gratification though is that a few songs do seem more in line with the maturity of the previous two lps handshake is the album s summit thanks to an oven hot chorus and an outro coda that has to rank among their ten best moments slumber is a slower show stopper with a pleading barrage of harmony vocals while the title track builds on generator s atomic garden with an unusual beatles jam singsong melody on the negative side infected into television are the two least effective songs of their 15 years the former a third rate sanity the latter bereft of hooks in any case it is not to be missed and it will haunt you in your sleep