True North (Bad Religion album)
True North | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | January 22, 2013 | |||
Recorded | July–August 2012 | |||
Studio | Joe's House of Compression, Pasadena, California | |||
Genre | Melodic hardcore[1] | |||
Length | 35:16 | |||
Label | Epitaph | |||
Producer | Joe Barresi, Greg Graffin, Brett Gurewitz | |||
Bad Religion chronology | ||||
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Singles from True North | ||||
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True North is the sixteenth studio album by the California punk rock band Bad Religion, which was released on January 22, 2013. After touring in support of their previous album The Dissent of Man (2010), Bad Religion began writing new material for an album that was planned for release in 2012. During their 2011 tour, frontman Greg Graffin stated that Bad Religion would make "one more album and then all join the navy, do honest work", which led to speculation that they were breaking up, although this turned out not to be the case.[2] The recording sessions took place in July and August 2012 at Joe's House of Compression, a studio owned by Joe Barresi, who produced the album.
True North was met with positive reviews upon release, and peaked at number 19 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, becoming Bad Religion's first album to crack the top 20 and their highest ever peak on that chart in their career.[3] This is the band's last album with guitarist Greg Hetson and drummer Brooks Wackerman, who left the band in April 2013 and October 2015, respectively.
Background
In an interview at the KROQ Weenie Roast on June 4, 2011, Graffin stated that Bad Religion was planning to record and release their sixteenth studio album in 2012, while bassist Jay Bentley mentioned an early 2012 timeframe for going back into the studio in an interview at Live 105's BFD festival, which took place on the day after the Weenie Roast.[10]
Recording
On June 4, 2012, Bentley confirmed in a post on the message board of the band's fan site The Bad Religion Page that they were expected to begin recording their new album in July and August.[11] A week later, he revealed that guitarist Brett Gurewitz and Joe Barresi were going to produce it.[12] On July 23, the band uploaded a picture to Bad Religion's Facebook page of all the members (except Greg Hetson, who took the picture) in the studio with the caption, "here we go again," indicating that work on their sixteenth studio album had begun. On August 22, Gurewitz tweeted that they were mixing the album, and a month later, he tweeted that the band was finishing it.[13] During Bad Religion's performance at the En Vivo festival in Spain in September 2012, Graffin stated that True North was supposed to be released by Christmas, although this turned out not to be the case.[14]
Release
On January 15, 2013, the band started streaming the album on their YouTube page. Singles to promote True North were "Fuck You" and the title track. The latter was released to radio on January 29, 2013.[15]
On January 30, 2013, the band appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, playing "Past is Dead".[16]
Reception
Critical reception
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Consequence of Sound | C+[21] |
DIY | [1] |
The Line of Best Fit | 7/10[22] |
musicOMH | [23] |
PopMatters | 8/10[24] |
Punknews.org | [25] |
Spin | 7/10[26] |
True North was met with mostly positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 75 based on 21 reviews.[18] The review aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave True North a 6.9 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.[17]
Reviews largely targeted the fact that True North was Bad Religion's 16th studio album. Johnny Owen of
Several critics praised "Robin Hood in Reverse" as the standout track of the album. Ian Winwood of the
Commercial performance and accolades
True North had a strong commercial showing in Europe and North America. In the US, the album spent two weeks on the
True North appeared at number seven in Punknews.org's list of the top 20 albums of 2013.[41]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "True North" | 1:56 |
2. | "Past Is Dead" | 2:39 |
3. | "Robin Hood in Reverse" | 2:53 |
4. | "Land of Endless Greed" | 1:53 |
5. | "Fuck You" | 2:14 |
6. | "Dharma and the Bomb" | 2:00 |
7. | "Hello Cruel World" | 3:50 |
8. | "Vanity" | 1:01 |
9. | "In Their Hearts Is Right" | 1:59 |
10. | "Crisis Time" | 2:39 |
11. | "Dept. of False Hope" | 2:40 |
12. | "Nothing to Dismay" | 2:07 |
13. | "Popular Consensus" | 1:53 |
14. | "My Head Is Full of Ghosts" | 1:46 |
15. | "The Island" | 1:28 |
16. | "Changing Tide" | 2:18 |
Total length: | 35:16 |
Personnel
Bad Religion
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Technical
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Information taken from the True North liner notes.[42]
Charts
Chart (2013) | Peak position |
---|---|
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[34] | 27 |
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[32] | 14 |
Finnish Albums ( Suomen virallinen lista)[35]
|
5 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[36] | 10 |
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[40] | 56 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[37] | 86 |
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[38] | 31 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[39] | 14 |
UK Albums (OCC)[33] | 129 |
US Billboard 200[29] | 19 |
US | 7 |
US | 4 |
References
- ^ a b c Owen, Johnny (January 18, 2013). "Bad Religion – True North". DIY. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ "Bad Religion's 'True North' Q&A: 'We're Still Creating Our Legacy'". Billboard. January 14, 2013. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
- ^ https://www.billboard.com/artist/bad-religion/chart-history/
- ^ Heller, Jason (September 28, 2010). "Bad Religion: The Dissent Of Man". The A.V. Club. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ Bahler, Alex (October 12, 2010). "Bad Religion: The Dissent of Man". PopMatters. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- Consequence of Sound. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- The Washington Examiner. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ Gormely, Ian (March 4, 2013). "Bad Religion: Empire State of Mind". Exclaim!. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ Dionne, Zach (January 14, 2013). "Bad Religion's 'True North' Q&A: 'We're Still Creating Our Legacy'". Billboard. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ "A couple of interviews and early news about a new album". The Bad Religion Page. June 7, 2011. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
- ^ "Ask Jay – 25¢ per question". The Bad Religion Page. June 4, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
- ^ "Ask Jay – 25¢ per question". The Bad Religion Page. June 4, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
- ^ "2012 Album Diary". The Bad Religion Page. August 22, 2012. Archived from the original on October 8, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
- ^ "Some details about the upcoming record". 2012 Album Diary. October 11, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
- ^ "AllAccess.com Alternative eWeekly". AllAccess. January 22, 2013. Retrieved July 3, 2016.
- ^ Harmann, Graham (January 31, 2013). "Bad Religion Perform New Song 'Past Is Dead' on 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'". Loudwire. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b "True North by Bad Religion". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b "True North by Bad Religion". Metacritic. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b Lymangrover, Jason. "True North". AllMusic. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b Heller, Jason (January 22, 2013). "Bad Religion: True North". The A.V. Club. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ Consequence of Sound. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
- ^ Goggins, Joe (January 18, 2013). "Bad Religion – True North". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b Headon, Martin (January 21, 2013). "Bad Religion – True North". musicOMH. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b Johnson, Andy (January 23, 2013). "Bad Religion: True North". PopMatters. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b Moran, Chris (January 24, 2013). "Bad Religion – True North". Punknews.org. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b Grow, Kory (January 24, 2013). "Bad Religion, 'True North' (Epitaph)". Spin. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ McLennan, Scott (January 21, 2013). "Bad Religion, 'True North'". The Boston Globe. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ Winwood, Ian (2013). "Bad Religion True North Review". BBC. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b "Bad Religion Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b "Bad Religion Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b "Bad Religion Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b "Bad Religion Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b Chart Log UK: "CHART: CLUK Update 2.02.2013 (wk4)". UK Albums Chart. Zobbel.de. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b "Austriancharts.at – Bad Religion – True North" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b "Dutchcharts.nl – Bad Religion – True North" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b "Swedishcharts.com – Bad Religion – True North". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b "Swisscharts.com – Bad Religion – True North". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
- ^ a b 4, 2013/ "Oricon Top 50 Albums: February 4, 2013" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ Yancey, Bryne (December 31, 2013). "Best of 2013". Punknews.org. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b True North (booklet). Bad Religion. Epitaph Records. 2013. 87228-2.
{{cite AV media notes}}
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External links
- True North at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)