Just an Atom in an Ectoplasmic Sea (Suffer - Bad Religion)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Suffer - Bad Religion
Date:	08/02/08 (44 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Defined the Southern Californian punk rock sound.

Disadvantages: Songs are fairly similar.

Released after a considerable gap, 'Suffer' represents the peak of Bad Religion's definitive, much-imitated punk sound, despite arguably being topped by the harder-edged 'No Control' the following year. The classic line-up remains intact, retaining Greg Hetson as a second guitarist, and the production really brings out all of the instruments, including the often suffering bass. With their questioning, politically-themed song titles, it's clear that Bad Religion hasn't calmed down in the interregnum, but the music remains overall melodic and fun rather than gritty and full of hate, even jangly at times, and the speed usually remains at a medium tempo.

As a punk album, it would be easy to level criticism against its lack of musical accomplishment, and while it's true that most songs follow fairly similar riffs and are mainly differentiated by Greg Graffin's vocal melodies, there are a few nice variations that demonstrate the band's commitment to recording a definitive album. '1000 More Fools' even has backing choral vocals very briefly, not something exactly associated with punk, and the songs tend to be longer and more substantial on the whole than the single-minute offerings of years past, apart from some like 'How Much is Enough?' and 'Pessimistic Lines' that only manage to squeeze in a great chorus before terminating. Brett Gurewitz has his first of several brief guitar solos on 'When?', eventually achieving greater prominence in the guitar-heavy 'Best for You' and opening overture of the title track.

Oddest of all are the slight (and I only mean very slight) progressive tendencies that seem to be most inspired by Rush. Just as that other band spread their conceptual suite 'Fear' across various albums in a seemingly random order, Bad Religion here provide the second and fourth parts in response to their earlier 'Part III' from 'How Could Hell Be Any Worse?', though as with the Rush songs there's no real connection either musically or lyrically, it's just something for fans to ponder over and feel clever for noticing. Also like contemporary Rush, there's an almost reggae section incorporated into 'Give You Nothing,' but the rest of the album tends to avoid such minor frivolities - apart from a dumb experiment with robot voice in 'Delirium of Disorder.' Probably the best thing about this album is how easily the songs stay with the listener afterwards, most of the catchy choruses being instantly recalled just by reading the tracklist, and while I prefer its successor this is overall a more melodic and upbeat offering that gets particularly good towards the end with their best song 'What Can You Do?'

1. You Are (the Government)
2. 1000 More Fools
3. How Much is Enough?
4. When?
5. Give You Nothing
6. Land of Competition
7. Forbidden Beat
8. Best for You
9. Suffer
10. Delirium of Disorder
11. Part II (The Numbers Game)
12. What Can You Do?
13. Do What You Want
14. Part IV (The Index Fossil)
15. Pessimistic Lines

Summary: Bad Religion's third album (1988).