Review: The Dissent of Man by Bad Religion

Maybe you noticed how pleasant most of my reviews tend to be, how they try their hardest to look for something decent to hear and to convey to the reader (like I'm With You or Enter the Wu-Tang). If you didn't notice, I certainly did. Fortunately, I happen to have a particularly hateful review of Bad Religion's The Dissent of Man. Here, I can't even reach my minimum of three decent songs because it's all total crap. It's a little short by my current review standards, but that's because I wrote it a while ago, and I didn't really have much to say anyway. I mention reviews for Dookie by Green Day and From Under the Cork Tree by Fall Out Boy, which I would be happy to share if you wanted to see them.

Please enjoy.

Bad Religion are an average punk rock band, complete with BPM's faster than a speeding bullet, guitar more distorted than your voice through a police communicator, and lyrics that seem to serve no purpose. The Dissent of Man is their latest album, and I've been told that it's somehow different than their previous albums, but having never listened to Bad Religion in my life, I can't speak for the truth in that sentence.

Actually, yes I can, since I have the Internet and I can listen to anything. Guess what? It's the same. It's all the same stuff. In fact, it's like they recorded the same song hundreds of times years and years ago and just release 12-15 of them periodically. That would explain why all of the songs sound exactly the same as one another (Except for "Meeting of the Minds," which does interesting enough guitar work to stand out.) It's like they just take the same exact formula and follow it word for word (unless someone magically feels the need to express themselves artistically), and as a result, all the songs sound the same.

This is simply unacceptable.

Come on, I might as well just buy "Ad Hominem," (incidentally, my choice for favorite song) repeat it 15 times and it'd be like I bought the whole album. Jesus, many of them start with the same damn guitar distortion, too. At least Fall Out Boy had the artistic ability to write more than one song. Hell, even Green Day managed some diversity by including "When I Come Around" and "Longview" on Dookie. It's sad, really, because I could see them with a massive hit on their hands if they just toned down the gain, slowed the BPM a bit and tried for once. If Greg Gaffin stretched his vocal cords and sung something more heartfelt, maybe this album would be worth more than $0.01.

Overall, no. Just... No.

 Ad Hominem