The Empire Strikes First is the thirteenth studio album by the punk rock band Bad Religion, released on June 8, 2004. The album is heavily influenced by the then-current Iraq War (most notably in the songs “Atheist Peace”, “Let Them Eat War” and the title track) and also has some nods to George Orwell‘s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (the song title “Boot Stamping on a Human Face Forever” as well as the line “you deserve Two Minute Hate” in the title track are direct references to the book), the latter most likely inspired by the Patriot Act.
The album also marks the rare instance that non-members of Bad Religion received a writing credit, as Chris Wollard of Hot Water Music co-wrote two songs. The song “Social Suicide” appears in the video games Tony Hawk‘s Project 8 and MX vs. ATV Untamed.
The album peaked at number 40 on the Billboard 200 album chart, the highest position the band had attained at the time. The album scored a minor radio hit with, “Los Angeles Is Burning”, which also reached No. 40 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.
Tracklist:
- Overture
- Sinister Rouge
- Social Suicide
- Atheist Peace
- All There Is
- Los Angeles Is Burning
- Let Them Eat War (Graffin, Gurewitz, Brian Baker, Jay Bentley, Wackerman, Sage Francis)
- God’s Love
- To Another Abyss
- The Quickening (Graffin, Gurewitz, Wackerman, Wollard)
- The Empire Strikes First (Graffin, Gurewitz, Baker)
- Beyond Electric Dreams (Graffin, Gurewitz, Wackerman, Wollard)
- Boot Stamping on a Human Face Forever
- Live Again (The Fall of Man)
Credits:
Bad Religion
Greg Graffin: lead vocals, producer
Greg Hetson: guitar
Brian Baker: guitar, backing vocals
Brett Gurewitz: guitar, backing vocals, producer
Jay Bentley: bass guitar, backing vocals
Brooks Wackerman: drums, percussion
Musicians
David Bragger: violin on “Atheist Peace”
Mike Campbell: guitar on “Los Angeles is Burning”
Sage Francis: guest vocals on “Let Them Eat War”
John Ginty: Hammond B-3 on “Los Angeles is Burning”
Leopold Ross: Sonic Alienator on “Beyond Electric Dreams”
Claude Sarne: goth choir soprano on “Sinister Rouge”
Atticus Ross: programming
Additional personnel
Joe Barresi: engineer, mixing
Tom Baker: mastering
Pete Martinez: assistant engineer
June Murakawa: assistant engineer
Nick Pritchard: design
Sean Murphy: photography
Matt Rubin: photography
