''New Maps of Hell'' is the fourteenth studio album by
Bad Religion
Bad Religion is an American punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. The band's lyrics cover topics related to religion, politics, society, the media and science. Musically, they are noted for their melodic sensibilitie ...
, released on July 10, 2007.
Bad Religion's follow-up to 2004's ''
The Empire Strikes First
''The Empire Strikes First'' is the thirteenth studio album by American punk rock band Bad Religion, released on June 8, 2004. The album is heavily influenced by the then-current Iraq War (most notably in the songs "Atheist Peace", "Let Them Ea ...
'' was originally rumored to be a double album to be released in 2006, but this was denied by bassist
Jay Bentley
Jay Dee Bentley (born June 6, 1964) is the bassist and co-founding member of the punk rock group Bad Religion. He has played with the band through its whole existence with a small break between 1983 and 1985. Along with vocalist Greg Graffin, Bent ...
. Due to the band's ongoing support with their previous release, the album was put on hold until 2007. Another one of the reasons why the band had yet to release a follow-up to ''The Empire Strikes First'' was their various other activities, most obviously frontman
Greg Graffin
Gregory Walter Graffin (born November 6, 1964) is an American singer and evolutionary biologist. He is most recognized as the lead vocalist and only constant member of punk rock band Bad Religion, which he co-founded in 1980. He embarked on a s ...
's, who released his
second solo album in 2006, his first since
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
.
''New Maps of Hell'' also marks the third Bad Religion album released after returning to
Epitaph Records
Epitaph Records is an American independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most acts signed to the label were punk and pop punk acts, while there are many post-hardcore and emo bands ...
for 2002's ''
The Process of Belief
''The Process of Belief'' is the twelfth studio album by the American punk rock band Bad Religion. It was produced by its leaders Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz, and was released on January 22, 2002, through Epitaph Records. After touring in sup ...
'' and with Gurewitz since his departure during the release of 1994's ''
Stranger Than Fiction''.
The song "New Dark Ages" makes an appearance in the video game NHL 2k9
Background and composition
Bad Religion first mentioned the follow-up to ''
The Empire Strikes First
''The Empire Strikes First'' is the thirteenth studio album by American punk rock band Bad Religion, released on June 8, 2004. The album is heavily influenced by the then-current Iraq War (most notably in the songs "Atheist Peace", "Let Them Ea ...
'' in 2005, stating that the band would begin recording it later that year, making it likely that it would be released sometime in 2006. In July 2005, it was announced that Graffin and Gurewitz had begun writing "about 20 songs or more" for the album.
On January 20, 2006, it was announced that Bad Religion was "almost 100% ready to go back to the studio or to the house" to begin working on the album. Members of the band had mentioned that it would be a double release, but this idea was later turned down flat by Bentley.
In early February 2006, Bentley was chatting with a visitor who comments on news articles at the official Bad Religion fansite, stating that the new Bad Religion album was planned for a September release, as well as a tour to follow.
Recording
In May 2006, Bentley also mentioned that the band was planning to begin recording it around late June/early July. In September, the band mentioned they were in the process of demoing.
Bentley also told Kristoffer Averheim, the webmaster of the Bad Religion fansite, that the album had been pushed back to late 2006/early 2007. While drummer
Brooks Wackerman
Brooks Wackerman (born February 15, 1977) is an American musician. He is the current drummer of heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, which he joined in 2015. His first album with Avenged Sevenfold was ''The Stage'' (2016). He is most known as t ...
posted a message on MySpace stating that the band had continued working on a new album, he stated that the album was once again pushed back to "mid/late 2007".
In January 2007, it was announced that the album would be called ''New Maps of Hell'' and would work with producer
Joe Barresi
Joe Barresi (nicknamed "Evil Joe") is an American record engineer and producer who has worked with Kyuss, The Melvins, Tool, Chevelle, Queens of the Stone Age, Coheed and Cambria, Tomahawk, L7, The Jesus Lizard, Parkway Drive, New Model Army, Ba ...
. The band began recording at Grand Master Studios in Los Angeles, California. On April 1, Bentley posted an update on the MySpace bulletin board, stating that the band was finally finished recording the album and would soon begin mixing it. He had this to say:
:
Release
On March 16, 2007, ''New Maps of Hell'' was announced for release and the track listing was revealed.
The following month, they embarked on a tour of South America, encapsulating Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. On April 25, the track listing was rearranged and the track "New Chapter" was dropped. When asked why "New Chapter" would not appear on the album, Bentley recently stated that it "ran into insurmountable issues" that the band "couldn't rectify", hinting that it will probably appear on the next Bad Religion album. "Honest Goodbye" was made available for streaming via the band's
Myspace account on May 15, and released as a single a week later. On May 25, "Heroes & Martyrs" was released as a free download.
"Honest Goodbye" was released to radio on June 12, 2007.
From late June to late August, the band went on the 2007 edition of
Warped Tour
The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring ...
. ''New Maps of Hell'' was made available for streaming on July 3, and released a week later through Epitaph.
[ Discussing the album's title, guitarist ]Brett Gurewitz
Brett W. Gurewitz (born May 12, 1962), nicknamed Mr. Brett, is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist of Bad Religion. He is also the owner of the music label Epitaph Records and a number of sister labels. He has produced albums f ...
stated "We all liked the concept of maps, because we are exploring new material on this record, both musically and topically." In September and October, the band went on a headlining tour across the US, with support from the Briggs
The Briggs are a punk rock band based out of Los Angeles, California. The Band Formed in 1999 under the name "I Decline" by brothers Joey and Jason LaRocca and bassist Matthew Stolarz (a.k.a. Duck). In 2001, with the addition of drummer Chris Ar ...
and Gallows
A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks ...
. "New Dark Ages" was released to radio on October 23. In November 2007, the band went on a headlining tour of Australia with Strung Out
Strung Out is an American punk rock band from Simi Valley, California, formed in 1989. They are known mainly for their musical style, which fuses aspects of melodic punk rock, progressive rock and heavy metal to form their primary sound. They ...
and MYC. On November 14, a music video was released for "New Dark Ages". The video for "Honest Goodbye" was planned, but "never made it out of the office" according to Bentley. The band ended the year with an appearance at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas
Almost Acoustic Christmas is an annual concert run by the Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM.
The first show was held in December 1989, though then it was simply called the KROQ Xmas Bash. In 1990 the show became bigger and attracted increasingly ...
festival.
On February 27, 2008, Punknews.org reported that Epitaph would be releasing a deluxe edition of New Maps of Hell on July 8. In February and March, the band went on a West Coast tour of the US, consisting of two-night residencies in multiple Californian and Nevadan cities. Further shows were added, extending it into April 2008; Hi Fi Handgrenades supported some of these shows. They appeared on ''The Daily Habit
''The Daily Habit'' is a sports telecast airing on Fuel TV hosted by Pat Parnell. The show features personalities in the world of extreme sports, including surfboarding, skateboarding, snowboarding, as well as other personalities from entertainme ...
'', performing "We're Only Going to Die" and "New Dark Ages". On May 9, 2008, Punknews.org released the artwork for the reissue and more details, including the track list and the bonus DVD. The DVD features an hour of a live performance, music videos for "New Dark Ages" and "Honest Goodbye", a showing of Bad Religion making New Maps of Hell and Graffin and Gurewitz recording the acoustic bonus tracks. It also has seven bonus tracks which are performed acoustically. Over the next two months, the band appeared at various festivals in Europe including Groezrock
Groezrock was an annual music festival that took place in Meerhout, Belgium. It started as a small rock and pop festival with one stage and a few hundred people attending, but evolved into a large punk rock/hardcore punk festival, with attendan ...
, Pinkpop
The Pinkpop Festival is an annual music festival held at Landgraaf, Netherlands. It is usually held on the Pentecost weekend (''Pinksteren'' in Dutch, hence the name). If Pentecost falls on an early date in May, the festival is held later in June. ...
, Nova Rock
The Nova Rock Festival, also just Nova Rock, is an Austrian rock festival that has existed since 2005 and takes place each year in June. It is located in Burgenland, the easternmost federal state of Austria, near Nickelsdorf and the Hungarian a ...
and Hove
Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th cen ...
. Between late June and late August 2008, the band performed on the Warped Tour
The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring ...
. An acoustic version of "Sorrow" was posted on the band's Myspace on July 2. After two shows in Germany and Brazil, they played a few US shows, followed by a tour of Canada. The tour was supported by the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, and was followed by a Califorian tour until October 2008. They played a few West Coast US shows in March 2009, prior to a performance at the Punk Spring festival in Japan, which was followed by shows in Hawaii and Spain. In September and October 2009, the band went on a tour of Australia with NOFX
NOFX () is an American punk rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1983. Vocalist/bassist Fat Mike, guitarist Eric Melvin and drummer Erik Sandin are original founding and longest-serving members of the band, who have appeared on every ...
.
Reception
Following the album's release, it debuted at number 35 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200, selling about 21,000 copies in its first week.[Katie Hasty]
"T.I. Holds Off Pumpkins, Interpol To Remain No. 1"
Billboard.com, July 18, 2007.
Track listing
;Deluxe edition bonus tracks
Personnel
* Greg Graffin
Gregory Walter Graffin (born November 6, 1964) is an American singer and evolutionary biologist. He is most recognized as the lead vocalist and only constant member of punk rock band Bad Religion, which he co-founded in 1980. He embarked on a s ...
– vocals, piano
* Brett Gurewitz
Brett W. Gurewitz (born May 12, 1962), nicknamed Mr. Brett, is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist of Bad Religion. He is also the owner of the music label Epitaph Records and a number of sister labels. He has produced albums f ...
– guitar, backing vocals
* Brian Baker – guitar
* Greg Hetson
Greg Hetson (born June 29, 1961) is an American guitarist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and has lived in the Los Angeles area since he was 2 years old. Active since 1979, Hetson is best known as the guitarist for the influential hardcore pu ...
– guitar
* Jay Bentley
Jay Dee Bentley (born June 6, 1964) is the bassist and co-founding member of the punk rock group Bad Religion. He has played with the band through its whole existence with a small break between 1983 and 1985. Along with vocalist Greg Graffin, Bent ...
– bass, backing vocals
* Brooks Wackerman
Brooks Wackerman (born February 15, 1977) is an American musician. He is the current drummer of heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, which he joined in 2015. His first album with Avenged Sevenfold was ''The Stage'' (2016). He is most known as t ...
– drums
* Joe Barresi
Joe Barresi (nicknamed "Evil Joe") is an American record engineer and producer who has worked with Kyuss, The Melvins, Tool, Chevelle, Queens of the Stone Age, Coheed and Cambria, Tomahawk, L7, The Jesus Lizard, Parkway Drive, New Model Army, Ba ...
– producer
* Mike Fasano – drum technician
* Andrew Alekel – assistant engineer
* Nick Pritchard – art direction, design
* Bryan Sheffield – photography
References
External links
''New Maps of Hell''
at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Maps Of Hell
2007 albums
Albums produced by Joe Barresi
Bad Religion albums
Epitaph Records albums