Epitaph / Ada
2004
How Could Hell Be Any Worse?
About This Album
This 2004 version of Bad Religion's 1982 debut takes the place of 80-85, which had previously accounted for the group's earliest output. Fully remastered (as Epitaph has done for a bulk of early BR releases), the set includes the first LP's full track listing, as well as the first three EPs. The expanded booklet features a full lyric sheet, reprints of the EP cover art, and a great photo collage that's as informative a scene history as any wordy liner retrospective would be. The energy in those photos of sweaty, awkward teenage kids gathering in well-lit rooms to play music and dance is correspondent to the music itself, which puts Bad Religion's initial forays toward hardcore and punk into tense, buzzing relief. Listening to How Could Hell Be Any Worse? is like cupping your ear against the garage door of their practice space. Greg Graffin's vocal style isn't fully formed here, nor is his lyrical agenda, but the building blocks are significant and affecting, bigger than piles of collapsed cathedrals. Indeed, "Voice of God Is Government" begins with a caustic caricature of the money-grubbing preacher, who assures that donations will be used to "censor TV and radio, ban questionable books, and contribute to many other Godly services.
Track List (try tracks 1,8,12,13 and 15)

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