Bad Religion - Recipe for Hate

Very good stuff

This album is a mix of great and not-so-great songs. There are several BR classics, however, that make this album a must-buy for any fan. I thought that some of the lyrics were especially sharp on this one. I had forgotten how good this album is! (I lost mine about 10 years ago and just repurchased). Intelligent punk! What a rare find. How can you not love this band...

Highly recommended! July 7, 2008

My all time favorite Bad Religion album

A long while back a friend of mine turned me on to Bad Religion and their music by playing me some tracks from his "Against The Grain" cassette that he had recently purchased. This was sometime in early 1993. Months later, this album - "Recipe For Hate" - was released. This same friend brought me his CD that he had purchased of this album and excitedly played me the entire album. I had thought the songs he played me from "Against The Grain" were good, but when I heard this album I truly became a huge Bad Religion fan immediately. Within a few months following the release of this album, I had the entire collection on CD. To this day, they're now one of my top favorite bands of all time.

Greg Graffin's lyrics are among the very best of Bad Religions output throughout this record and the musical hooks bleed all over the place from the beginning to the end. Even Eddie Vedder makes a vocal appearance on "Watch It Die" which is mixed so well that you'd barely know it's him given how his vocals were mixed on Pearl Jam's "Ten" which was released a year before this. Mr. Brett's production is slick and punchy at the same time which was a highlight on the previous album "Generator" but with this album it's more rounded out. If there's a bad track on this album I surely can't name one (we can't count "Stealth").

Of course, it's well known that this is the album that lead to Bad Religion signing to Atlantic Records. It was with good reason. Unfortunately, that label was never able to generate any real money out of Bad Religion and the band would suffer a bit musically once Mr. Brett had to leave the band to concentrate on Epitaph Records unexpected rise in sales thanks to The Offspring & Rancid. This is the album that sort of began an interesting period for Bad Religion. One that I feel they managed to survive very well given the trends they were put up against and with Greg Graffin having to assume most of the writing responsibilties with Mr. Brett absent from the band until "The Process Of Belief" came out in 2002.

If you're a new fan of Bad Religion it's not a bad idea to start with this album. The older fan would tell you to start with "Suffer" or "How Could Hell Be Any Worse?" but I feel that the band reached it's musical peak with the lineup that played on "Recipe For Hate" and the follow-up album (and the 1st officially recorded for Atlantic Records) "Stranger Than Fiction".

Standout tracks include - "Recipe For Hate", "Kerosene", "American Jesus", "Portrait Of Authority", "Watch It Die", "My Poor Friend Me", "Lookin In", "Modern Day Catastrophists" & "Skyscraper". September 10, 2007

The weakest BR release but much better than all their post '96 albums

A lot of people praise this album a lot saying it is probably Bad Religion's best release...I have to say that I strongly disagree.

IMO 'Recipe For Hate' comes across as a mediocre continuation of the brilliant 'Generator' album. The songwriting is in the same vain, concentrating in more mid-tempo and clean passages and more throughout guitars and lyrics. That's not a bad thing but the problem here is that unlike Generator most songs sound mediocre or uninspired compared to the rest. Tracks like "Recipe For Hate", "Leave Mine To Me", "American Jesus", "Watch It Die", "Struck A Nerve" and "Skyscraper" are truly outstanding compositions that might be better than some of the bands previous efforts. On the other hand tracks like 'Portrait Of Authority', 'Modern Day Catastrophists', 'My Poor Friend Me' and 'Kerosene' are pretty bad...

Anyways Bad Religion's weakest could be another band's greatest, so no major complaints here. The musicianship and lyrics of the good songs are outstanding as in all of their releases up to 'The Gray Race'. Some tracks have excellent guitar work (including some great solos), better vocals and more progressive ideas (like the inclusion of metal and alternative rock influences at small parts).

Overall 'Recipe For Hate' is a nice release but compared to the bands previous and 2 future offerings it comes up a bit short. (Definitely not an album for new BR fans, try 'Against The Grain' or 'Stranger Than Fiction' first) July 25, 2007

Different but good

I like this album...the songs are very diverse. The album has a darker feel to it than the previous ones and that dark approach continued on Generator. The only song that doesnt really fit on here is Kerosene. Seriously they should have shoved it onto The New America seven years later in 2000. The other complaint I have is that the sound quality is pretty bad...not as bad as the sound quality on the SACD of Stranger Than Fiction but still not up to par.

However on with the good...
the songs themselves are really good. The lyrics as always are thought provoking and interesting and the harmonies and backup vocals from other musicians on 'Watch It Die' and 'Struck A Nerve' are very well placed.
The drumming and guitar work is also very well implemented to fit each song. The song 'All Good Soldiers' is actually quite good...don't know why many people don't like it. It sounds kinda like 'Atomic Garden' from Generator...well thats the feeling I get from the song anyway.

My top 5 songs in no order from this album would be:
Recipe For Hate, American Jesus, My Poor Friend Me, Lookin' In and Skyscraper.

I know my review was short but im hungover right now and really dont have the time to write a long review...the music speaks for itself anyway... July 8, 2007

Good CD

The CD itself is good, but I wish that mine had survived the trip to me better. June 14, 2007

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