Stranger Than Fiction - Atlantic 1994
8 / 10
The major-label debut! Finally, they get their long-overdue radio play with the midtempo semi-hits "Infected" (which I LOVE!) and "21st Century Digital Boy" (actually one of the weaker Against The Grain tracks that they re-recorded for no clear reason). Same sorta stuff as the last record, but maybe a bit less experimental. Some are generic but fast (and, thus, enjoyable); others are slower and a bit more questionable ("Slumber," for example, is a folk rock song, and not a terribly good one). It's still Bad Religion, though. They're still singing lines like "Automatons with business suits clinging black boxes sequestering the blueprints of daily life," and they're not turning to prog rock as a younger band might have done. Still holdin' strong to the tradition. Or whatever.
- Mark Prindle
