On a lesser Bad Religion album, that might have been a bad thing. Some of the band’s most potent moments have been its most melodic, intricate, and progressive. True North leaves little breathing room for such luxuries, but there are bright flashes in songs like “Past Is Dead,” which begins with a brief passage of bleak, jangling folk, the kind that often underlies even the most blistering and distorted Bad Religion song. Accordingly, “Past Is Dead” carries a deeper, darker weight, as does “Robin Hood In Reverse,” a screed that attacks plutocracy and Graffin’s old punching bag, Christianity, while launching majestic rock solos and lifting a line from punk legend Sham 69.
Still, True North manages to navigate the fine line between philosophy and personal politics, a restraint that Bad Religion only rarely nails so evocatively. In spite of its title, “Fuck You” is one of the album’s most eloquent tracks, both musically and lyrically; backed by the band’s signature, nearly symphonic washes of vocal harmony, Graffin packs introspection and a wry irony behind his raised middle finger. Meanwhile the group’s all-star, triple-guitar frontline (founder Brett Gurewitz, Circle Jerks’ Greg Hetson, and Minor Threat’s Brian Baker) weaves a thick tangle of riffs that interlock with a whiplash dynamic. True North’s closest relative in Bad Religion’s catalog is 1992’s Generator—an album that perfectly balances the punk yin and the rock yang that the band has always sought to reconcile. For Bad Religion, that’s always been a perpetual, open-ended process. But on True North, that shotgun marriage not only succeeds, it brings out the most forceful—and the most tuneful—elements of each.
