BAD RELIGION
The Empire Strikes First (Epitaph)
Reviewed by Jason Thornberry

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George W. Douche won't be phoning Epitaph Records for permission to use any of the songs on The Empire Strikes First for his re-election campaign. He doesn't have time, or the ability, to comprehend Bad Religion's prediction of a future he and other affluent white senior citizens have in store for you and your children should he steal the White House yet again.

The game plan for the new millennium (historian Charles A. Beard refers to a "perpetual war for perpetual peace") is mapped out on songs like "Sinister Rouge," "Let Them Eat War," "Sinister Rouge," the title track, and "Boot Stamping" on A Human Face Forever. Empire as an audio document recalls the Two Minutes Hate I read about in high school, but then it was simply part of a book. Now the similarities between that Utopia and a universe free of blurry "evildoers" is just enough to fill you with horror as you spin Empire again and worry.

10/10

© 2004 - Jason Thornberry