they lost me when this album came out. although i did dig empire strikes first.

my brother in law gave me a copy of this on vinyl recently after someone had given it to him and i tried to give it away to someone else and they wouldn't take it. now i'm stuck with it.

Also...there's no way in hell that this record is better than How Could Hell Be Any Worse, No Control, Suffer, Against The Grain, or Generator...because thats just a ridiculous idea!

It's pretty apparent that most folks giving this record high marks ARE fanboys...which usually means a delusional inability to admit when a (their) band makes a mediocre album, which The Grey Race very much is! I love this band, the songwriting, the lyrics, and the melodies...but it is a terribly boring record, the one that followed it was even worse, and don't get me started on how bad New America was!

It's kinda like the dorks who still stick up for Metallica!

i bought a reissue of ignites our darkest days (ie a limited tour edition) and i only got 2 extra tracks one being a demo of bleeding. however i only got it as i dont have the origional and it was cheaper than the origional. but still only one different song is pretty weak

Also, I'm going to admit that, if I'm a fanboy for any band, it's gonna be Bad Religion. There's very little in their catalog that I will slight at all. I think they're a phenomenal band, working within a recognizable framework, yet introducing intriguing new ideas with each album. And there are very few pop songwriters in the history of rock and roll that can touch Graffin and Gurewitz, especially when you consider the consistency and volume of their output over two decades.
So, basically, I'll agree with anything positive you say, and disagree with most of the negatives.

That's odd. For me, the one-two-three punch of Drunk Sincerity, Victory and Come Join Us, followed by the powerhouse that is Cease, is a really awesome part of the album as well. I'll agree that some of the middle isn't as good as the bookends, but I do love me some Empty Causes, Pity The Dead or Spirit Shine.

I think it's pretty telling that the views are so polarized on this album. Personally, I always felt the first third is extremely solid, but the intensity falls off SO fast after the first five songs. It never fails: Songs like "Them and Us" and "Parallel" suck me in, but by the time "Drunk Sincerity" wraps up I'm hardly paying attention.

This is by far my favorite BR record, and it's been a huge part of my life.

for me this was the best bad religion album. i bought it when it first came out, from some guy who i think stole it from a store. i can't be sure, but he was shady.

it was all straight ahead punk, with some fast beats (at the time).
it was dark, melodious and damn catchy. i still listen to this cd, and this is the only bad religion cd i can listen to over and over again without skipping every song (although i don't really like spirit shine).

i came into cease a lot more when i heard the piano only version from graffins solo cd, went back and listened to it on the grey race, and ended up listening to the cd over and over again....

if you don't like come join us, you should be gutted

Frogger beats out Raise your voice because it's shorter and doesn't have some German douche Campino singing in it.

I don't mind No Substance. The best song is In So Many Ways.
The only songs that I don't like are Hippy killers, all fantastic images, raise your voice.

Oh, and Hear It is one of the best BR songs ever.

Kinda pointless review, but this is a good album.

Probably the best from the non-Brett days. Has some of Graffins catchiest hooks as well.

"Nobody Listens" and "Spirit Shine" are terrible. "Them And Us", "Pity The Dead" and "Drunk Sncerity" are fantastic. And the rest are good.

On No Substance? In SO Many Ways is definitely a good one. Strange Denial is pretty sweet, too. I really like Sowing the Seeds of Utopia as well. Shades of Truth as well.

In So Many Ways is the best song on No Substance because it's the best Bad Religion song, period.

I think Strange Denial and the Same Person are the best songs off of No Substance.

Definitely Hear It

i really like The Biggest Killer In American History, Shades Of Truth, Hear It, Mediocre Minds, Same Person

but i will agree that Raise Your Voice is one of their worst

What is the best No Substance song in your opinion?

I'll go with... Let's say... Strange Denial

Stranger Than Fiction is by far BR's weakest album... the song Stranger Than Fiction is one of their worst

on the other hand, i think No Substance - while certainly not their best album - was a strong effort. there are quite a few really good songs on there

I'm more forgiving with Frogger because was written by Greg Hetson and only appeared on an EP where as Raise Your Voice was a single from No Substance and was written by Greg Graffin.

I can't believe all of you saying you prefer Frogger! Really? "I'm playing Frogger with my life" is preferable to "It's our daunted restraint that keeps us silent in shame. It's our nature to be adversarial and free. Our evolution didn't hinge on passivity"?

Frogger is bad but I can't take the "Fa Fa Fa Fa!"

I don't know about other countries but here this album is budget priced at $10, really worth picking up.

I am a huge Bad Religion fan, and I will say this is one of my favorite BR albums. It's mainly just 'punk rock'. Not much experimentation to it, just straight up 'punk rock'. I love Grey Race and Them and Us, and hearing Come Join Us live was awesome...

Bad Religion albums have Greg songs, and then have Brett songs. Just look at it as an album with just Greg songs.

But honestly, it's the best out of the major releases. STF was nice, but had too much happy crap.

Just to see where I'm coming from, I think is the best, followed by this TPoB and then the beginning trilogy; Suffer, No Control, AtG.

I can't belive how people hate this album cause brett's not on it, does anyone remember Empire Strikes First which is the worst BR ever.

I'll take Frogger over Raise Your Voice anyday...

Score is for the fact that 2 songs from this album were in crazy taxi

"I agree that "Raise your voice" is the worst BR song released on an album."

"Frogger", my friend. "Frogger."

Pretty good album, beefier production that doesn't sound too polished, it's a nice change. The lack of Brett songs is noticeable but I wouldn't skip a track, unlike STF (Television is terrible).

I agree that "Raise your voice" is the worst BR song released on an album.
There's bigger turds called "Follow the leader" and "Lose As Directed" but those are B-sides.

Or The Gray Race is one of, if not THE best Bad Religion albums. Granted, the absence of Brett is disappointing, but this album works almost as a concept album. Thematically, the songs are linked more than they've ever been. The melodies, riffs, solos and topival variety is off the charts here. Come one. If you don't like this album, but like other BR stuff, you're CHOOSING not to like it.

The Grey Race through New America should be avoided by everyone! This record is worse than bad...it's generic and boring, good thing Brett came back to write the jams!

Totally good album. My favorite Brett-less disc.

Note to our German friends: tough ≠ though. Spell check won't catch that one either. Try running it through babelfish next time.

One of the first BR albums i ever received. Not a bad album but definitely not their best.

Score is for Drunk Sincerity

Mediocre Bad Religion album. A little better than No Substance, A New America and the last 2 albums. For you people that think this is one of their best, seriously pick up one of the older albums.

This is actually one of their best albums in my opinion. When it originally came out, I wasn't epecting much considering the very public split of Brett who left for other sited reasons then than "managing Offspring" or whatever the story/excuse is now. I wasn't terribly into Stranger Than Fiction which was a bit soft for me overall (Better Off Dead ruled though). When I bought the CD that release day morning, and I popped it into my car stereo as i ran late for work, I was floored.

Anyway, the album is very moody and dark (much like the Generator-era), but the songs were at the same time very uplifting, mostly fast and yet had very heavy production (more than anything else they have ever done) with cool guitar layering and thick drum kicks. The reason for no remastering on this album is it is entirely not necessary.

The best thing of all is this CD has the song "Parallel" which is my favorite BR song ever.

I am surprised Sony didn't tack on any of the B-Sides from the album. A couple of them appear on the Punk Rock Song EP (which I won by the way) and aren't bad.

What's funny is the surprise I had going from STF to this album was of similar but opposite effect when they released the steaming pile known as No Substance right after this one..

Possibly the most underrated album of the 90s. Score is for "Cease."

Raise Your Voice is also one of their worst... FAH FAH FAH FAH??? C'mon, what were they thinking?

I can't imagine why "I Love My Computer" made it onto New America but a song like "The Fast Life" was only a b-side for that album.

wow i haven't thought about that song in a while

easily worst BR song, i can hardly listen to that song

i really like I Love My Computer

Worst BR song...I Love My Computer.

no point in this review.

I think the only song I don't like from this album is Ten in 2010.

Punk Rock Song is kind of cheesy also but I still like it.

Also, I like Pity The Dead but it has some rather morbid lyrics for being a bouncy fast paced punk song; I don't think the music fits the lyrics that well.

Brett's a douche for saying this album is BR's worst... it has so many classics, and contains some of their greatest songs ever

Gray Race, Them And Us, Cease, Come Join Us, Pity The Dead, Ten In 2010... all perfect songs

definitly the best album without brett. no substance was awful, save of one or two tracks and even though new america was step up, the songs weren't very interesting, but didn't have as many flat out bad songs as substance

this album's solid

not close to their best stuff there's at least a couple songs on here that rank in my favorite BR songs

This album is good for the BR dark ages. Score is for no bonus tracks.

Brett Gurewitz says this is the worst BR album because it was their first without him. I personally think it was the strongest of their Brett-less albums, and possibly even the best of their major label years. It also has a few of my favourite songs (Cease, Parallel, Streets of America). You shouldn't go out of your way to get this reissue unless you don't already have the original, though.

I bet the first press of Into the Unknown on vinyl goes for a lot more than $100. Score is for that album