No Control
Change of Ideas needs less than a minute to explain much of No Control. The guitars move quickly, the drums are sharp, and Greg Graffin gives a clear melody to words that refuse to accept an easy answer. Bad Religion make the short form feel complete. The album keeps that discipline through fifteen songs without sounding as though it has left the important work unfinished.
Big Bang and the title track turn speed into a source of tension rather than a substitute for writing. The twin guitars are tightly connected, with small figures giving the songs a recognisable outline. Graffin's voice remains centred in the rush, and the harmonies create clear points of arrival. The band can be forceful without making every part compete to be the loudest.
Automatic Man is particularly good at making a complicated melodic line seem natural at this pace. I Want to Conquer the World offers a broader chorus and a useful tension between the size of its ambition and the scepticism inside the words. The song is enjoyable before its contradictions have all been considered. That combination gives the record a longer life than a set of straightforward instructions would have.
The method does have limits. Several songs use closely related rhythms and guitar shapes, and their individual personalities can be difficult to separate at first. The album relies on the listener recognising a vocal turn or a brief change in emphasis within a very consistent attack. You provides one of the strongest such melodies, while the more spacious movement of Sanity helps the sequence breathe.
What makes No Control convincing is the absence of wasted motion. The bass and drums keep the arrangements firm, the guitars add bite, and the singing gives the ideas a shape that stays in the mind. Bad Religion do not need to simplify their thinking to write direct songs. Here, the clear melodies and quick performances make the questions more urgent, leaving plenty to consider after the record has already finished.
