Forget that army of neopunkers beating old formulas to death; The Gray Race comes more than 15 years after Bad Religion first roared out of the Los Angeles suburbs, already committed to slipping substance into their grinding rock groove. The songs are wordier now, filled with earnest warnings about the continuing collapse of Western society, but the band hasn't lost its frantic drive or knack for clean pop hooks. For Bad Religion, punk has always been more than three chords and a fashionable snarl.

Greg Graffin shows no interest in easy profit by playing to present-day adolescent fears. Backed by the fervent guitar work of Greg Hetson and Brian Baker (who replaced founding member Brett Gurewitz), Graffin instead challenges listeners with grim dissections of mankind as a species, offering dire predictions of a popúlation catastrophe. "Empty Causes" even draws parallels between the unmet promises of '60s utopia and his own mohawked fans' futile shouts of "fuck the government."

"Punk Rock Song" explores horrors far beyond the stilted comforts of suburbia and takes aim at the twisted political values of a disintegrating national culture: "Ten million dollars on a losing campaign/Twenty million starving and writhing in pain." Graffin's indictments are delivered at a quick pace; producer Ric Ocasek allows barely a second to pass between tracks. Sociopolitical manifestoes aside, songs like "A Walk" are as energetic and hook filled as an old Go-Go's tune.

There is a sameness to some songs that keeps the album from matching such milestones as 1988's Suffer or 1993's Recipe for Hate. But even if bands like Green Day and Rancid sell more records by aping the old punk sounds, Bad Religion are working to bring a deeper sense of purpose to a music they can honestly call their own. (RS 729)

STEVE APPLEFORD