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Age of Unreason Image
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 6 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 15 Ratings

  • Summary: The 17th full-length studio release for the punk rock band was produced by Carlos de la Garza and is the first with Mike Dimkich and Jamie Miller [replacing Greg Hetson and Brooks Wackerman].
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. 90
    While Bad Religion’s forays into new territory may be subtle, they’re certainly there, and it’s commendable to see a nearly 40 year old band still trying to find ways to innovate and make their sound fresh and new. I know that I’ll catch some grief for this, but I honestly would call this the best Bad Religion album since The Empire Strikes First, and a sign of a revitalized band that’s ready to start making some more great music again.
  2. Classic Rock Magazine
    May 3, 2019
    80
    As you'd expect, musically they're full-tilt melodic punk rallying cries, with the warmth of Greg Graffin's vocals contrasting beautifully against Brett Gurewitz's barbed riffs to suggest there's still a chance for redemption if we stand up and fight. [Jun 2019, p.86]
  3. Kerrang!
    May 3, 2019
    80
    While these songs may lack the same kind of energetic rage that defined the band in their early years, they're still a formidable way of exposing truths and holding the powers that be to account. [4 May 2019, p.55]
  4. May 6, 2019
    75
    The band's 17th album, its title a play on Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason, is as urgent a politically motivated statement as the band has released in years.
  5. May 3, 2019
    70
    Graffin remains a potent evangelist of the punk idiom, and while there's nothing on Age of Unreason that would sound out of place on anything that came before it, the band's commitment to keeping the genre vital, both musically and lyrically, feels as necessary as it does timely.
  6. May 3, 2019
    70
    Anyone who's spent any time with Bad Religion will know what they are getting into with Age of Unreason. It's a good album that largely succeeds because the band are old pros. And because Graffin and Gurewitz have plenty of genuine anger and articulate that anger in interesting ways.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 5
  3. Negative: 2 out of 5
  1. May 4, 2019
    10
    As expected, another brilliant album from the masterminds of modern punk rock. Thanks for a new classic, Bad Religion. This was much needed right now.
  2. May 9, 2019
    10
    There's always that one punk album each year that becomes the soundtrack to my summer. This year it's this near perfect Bad Religion album. ItThere's always that one punk album each year that becomes the soundtrack to my summer. This year it's this near perfect Bad Religion album. It feels like I'm being transported to 1996 every time I listen to it. I love it so very much. I would also say that it's their best and and most focused album in 10-15 years. Expand
  3. Nov 1, 2019
    9
    Bad Religion overcomes their tendencies towards being Repetitive and Derivative by dropping an album that advances their sound, while alsoBad Religion overcomes their tendencies towards being Repetitive and Derivative by dropping an album that advances their sound, while also feeling like a poignant and meaningful expression of the despair and frustration many are going through right now. Despite some minor lulls in the second half of the album, the project as a whole is packed with enough talent and emotion to not only justify it's existence as a punk rock album in 2019, but solidify itself as their most solid and refreshing album in over a decade. Expand
  4. Jul 29, 2020
    0
    Well.... It looks like I won't be buying this LP.. they , in so many words, call Donald Trump a Nazi in the song "black dog" .. I'm NOT a bigWell.... It looks like I won't be buying this LP.. they , in so many words, call Donald Trump a Nazi in the song "black dog" .. I'm NOT a big fan of Donald Trump.. I happen to think he is a dickhead!! That being said. Sorry but I'm sick of this left wing influence on so called punk bands.. what happened to "think for yourself".. hard to believe that Brett and Greg are just useful idiots for the left wing socialists .. but its true, in fact most of my most beloved OG "punk" bands are just that. Anti-Trump tools for Nancy Pelosi and the radical left so so sad.... Why didn't Punk bands sing about Obama raiding over 300 MMJ Dispensaries?? Or any Gun Grabbing Baby killing Democrat? why the bias? .. whats next a song about how there are too many guns out there and how there needs to be more and tighter restrictions on gun purchases?? I want to hear just ONE "punk rock" song, in the last 20 years, that bashes a Democrat. Fed up!!!! Expand
  5. Aug 5, 2021
    0
    Long time fan of everything they have created. Even with a few points down during the Atlantic years. I thought some of the albums wereLong time fan of everything they have created. Even with a few points down during the Atlantic years. I thought some of the albums were recorded/mixed/produced with less effort than the ones that came before (The New America). Even though they were still great in my opinion. From Process of Belief through True North, I thought the energy and production were great. This album has the arrangement, but it lacks energy and is void of any life in the production. Please remix it with someone else at the controls. I recall a statement from Mr. Brett saying he was "hands off" with this one in mixing/producing. With Bad religion, I always thought they had intelligent messages to be delivered, provoke thought. I believe that form of poetry is in the lyrics of this album, but it is surrounded by terrible production. If they wish to have that message delivered more successfully, either remix and reproduce this thing, or at least prove it holds its own via a live performance of the entire album. Expand