Bad Religion – Back to the Known EP

Back to the Known, released after the ‘embarassement’ of Into the Unknown (of course, I enjoyed the prog-rock release, but I know most of you didn’t, and neither did the band). We’re thrown straight back into BR’s hardcoreish punk sound here, and let me tell you, it’s sounding better than it ever has.

Yesterday is a strong as hell starter and is one of my favorite BR tracks of all time. A real dance-along and turn-up-loud song. I adore it.

There’s nothing even bad on here. As with their previous EP, they’re still clearly finding their sound, but suffice to say they’ve come very close to catching it here. Frogger is great, as is the second version of Bad Religion – especially since it’s pretty damn different! Better than the first (although the first was great). We even hear some dual vocals on here. Awesome! Then we have Along the Way, which is just as strong as Yesterday, and as much of a singalong too. Every time I listen to this I feel joy at the improvement between this and their previous efforts. No weak songs. New Leaf is the perfect ending. You certainly are turning over a new leaf, and it’s a pretty fucking awesome one at that.

This surely paved the way for the breakthrough of Suffer. The band are mature and know what they’re doing here, and it shows through the massive improvements. If anyone I know wants some early BR to listen to, this is my record of choice. I’ve given it a 4 star rating, which ti be honest is probablytoo high, but I just love to hear the evolution of such an incredible band. I love hearing them turn from schoolboys into men. Fantastic record and a peice of punk rock history, whichout a doubt.