First Listen: Bad Religion, True North

For more than 30 years, Bad Religion has been plying the same trade. True North is the band's 16th album, and fans should know better at this point than to expect any surprises. Bad Religion delivers fast, sharp, political punk rock with a decidedly melodic edge, and just as every song sounds the same, so does every new album.

In case I'm not being clear, I have no problem with this. Bad Religion occupies a unique space in the continuum, halfway between punk and power pop, and it's a sound I never tire of. The 16 songs on True North fly by - most of them hover between one and two minutes. (The mid-tempo "Hello Cruel World" stretches to 3:50, an eternity in Bad Religion time.) Drums pound in double time, guitars charge forward like flaming horses, and harmonies swirl around Greg Graffin's inimitable voice. My favorite this time is "Popular Consensus," nestled at track 13, but they're all equally great. Bad Religion. May they never change.