Bad Religion's "The Process of Belief" turns 20

You know what's even better than one of your favourite bands delivering awesome record after awesome record after awesome record? One of your favourite bands delivering an awesome record after a bunch of shitty records! Maybe that's why BAD RELIGION's 12th album will always hold a special place in my heart.

"The Process of Belief" is one of the greatest comeback-stories in Punkrock-history. BAD RELIGION were pretty much done by the early 2000s. The major-label-years sucked the life out them and the abscene of Brett Gurewitz made it even worse. When people talk about the quality of this album, they mostly talk about the comeback of Gurewitz. I'm sure that he was one lightning spark that set these legends once again on fire. But I guess they also felt freed after their mostly unsatisfying run on Atlantic Records. They probably said to themselves: "This can't be it. We've got to prove that we can do better!"

...and so they did something that most of the time helps, when you're in a crisis: They went back in their comfort zone. Back to where they know that they are good at. Back where they could count on support of their fans. They went back to their heydays, back to the "Holy Trinity" of "Suffer", "No Control" & "Against the Grain". Even if it wasn't meant in this way, the opener "Supersonic" says it all:

"I gotta go faster,

keep up the pace,

just to stay in the human race"

It was also a statement to put the three shortest and most straight forward tracks upfront. Rightfully so, "The Process of Belief" was often called the successor to "Suffer". Though it got the make-up of the 2000s and their best production yet. It wasn't that easy all the while, cause, like long time fans were used to, BAD RELIGION tried to cover some new ground on this record. And it worked wonders. Where there are some BAD RELIGION-albums that are a bit one-sided on fast- or midtempo, "The Process of Belief" ranks among their most diverse records. A song like "Broken" is a catchy midtempo-track, "Sorrow" incorporates Country-Pop into their sound, and the longest song "Epiphany", clocking in at 4 minutes of playtime, is surprisingly moody and dramatic. Still, they always find their way back to the melodic Skatepunk and reach a pace that they last time reached in 1990, when releasing "Against the Grain". THAT is something that most of their listeners missed!

"The Process of Belief" is a record that definitely lives from the memories, the momentum and its sentiment back then, as well as from the pure passion and energy that is transported through your earphones. There aren't too many classic BAD RELIGION-songs on here, but as an album it's dense and without any flaw. It's a record in form of a gift. A gift to their fans. And most definitely, a gift to themselves.