The Process of Belief is the twelfth studio album by American punk rock band Bad Religion. It was produced by its leaders Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz, and was released on January 22, 2002, through Epitaph Records. After touring in support of its previous studio album, The New America (2000), Gurewitz re-joined Bad Religion in 2001 after a seven-year hiatus. The band re-signed with Epitaph, and then began work on its first album for the label in over eight years. The album also marked the first album to feature Brooks Wackerman, who replaced former drummer Bobby Schayer.

The Process of Belief was commercially successful for Epitaph, debuting at number 49 on the Billboard 200 chart, and was well received by both critics and fans, who marked the album as a return to the faster and more energetic songwriting style of Bad Religion's earlier albums. The album has sold more than 220,000 units worldwide. The Process of Belief features one of Bad Religion's well-known songs "Sorrow", the band's first to chart in the US in six years, since "A Walk" (from 1996's The Gray Race). "Broken", "The Defense" and "Supersonic" also received radio airplay, but all failed to make any national chart (although "Broken" reached number 125 on the UK Singles Chart).

Background and recording

thumb|left|The album marks [[Brett Gurewitz' return to the band in eight years since Stranger than Fiction. Bassist Jay Bentley said there was one day where the label was dropping acts that had sold under 50,000 copies; he said that Bad Religion had sold around 61,000 but had told them: "Please throw us off too. I don't want to be a part of this anymore." In January 2001, it was reported that Epitaph Records and Bad Religion founder Brett Gurewitz had re-joined the band. Alongside this, it was announced that the band had re-signed to Epitaph, who they left for Atlantic in 1993.

Throughout June 2001, the band toured across Europe; in the same month, Brooks Wackerman, formerly of Suicidal Tendencies and the Vandals, joined the band as their next drummer. In July 2001, the band said their next album would be titled The Process of Belief, and was planned for release in a few months' time. Later in the month, the band recorded at Sound City Studios and Westbeach Recorders, both in Los Angeles, California, with Gurewitz and Graffin as producers. Billy Joe Bowers handled recording, while Jeff Mosis and Philip Brousard acted as assistant engineers. The album's title was taken from a lyric in "Materialist", which Gurewitz felt summarizes the band's name fittingly. "Broken" is a mid-tempo rock song, and is followed by "Destined for Nothing", which evokes parts of Recipe for Hate. "Materialist" is an anti-religious track; Gurewitz said it referred to "belief in God and the biological process that causes the belief in God." The song opens with a Police-esque ska beat, before switching to the band's typical melodic hardcore sound. "Epiphany" is a mid-tempo song that talks about the negatives of self-examination, and is similar in form to "Stickin in My Eye" (1992) by NOFX. On October 5, 2001, the album's artwork was posted on the label's website. On October 31, "Sorrow" was made available for free download through the label's website, followed by "Can't Stop It" on November 15, through eMusic. On January 11, 2002, "Supersonic" was made available for free download through a microsite for the album. before it was eventually released on January 22, 2002. To promote its release, the band held four releases shows across San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, and appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

The music video for "Sorrow" was posted online on January 29, 2002. On February 8, the band performed "Sorrow" on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. Following this, the band embarked on tour of Europe in February 2002, and a tour of the US in March, with support from Hot Water Music and Less Than Jake. In April 2002, the band performed at the Groezrock festival in Europe. "Broken" was released as a single on April 22, 2002; the CD version featured the non-album track "Shattered Faith", "Supersonic", and the music video for "Sorrow". Three days later, the music video for "Broken" was posted on the band's website. Between late June and mid-August, the group went on the 2002 edition of Warped Tour. In September, the band performed at the Inland Invasion festival. They were due to tour Australia and New Zealand in October; however, the trek was cancelled for unknown reasons. In April and May 2003, the band embarked on a US west coast tour, with support from Sparta and Snapcase, and headlined the Slam City Jam. In September, the band went on another west coast tour, which included several multi-day shows in different cities. Some of the shows were supported by the Living End, Maxeen, and Throw Rag.

Reception

The Process of Belief was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 74, based on 13 reviews. Rolling Stone writer Tom Moon said the album had "fourteen throttling songs designed to remind Sum 41's worshippers about the oft-neglected cerebral side of punk." and also number one on Top Independent Albums. Alternative Press ranked "Sorrow" at number 56 on their list of the best 100 singles from the 2000s. The album has sold more than 220,000 units worldwide.

Track listing

All songs written by Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz.

Bad Religion

  • Jay Bentley – bass, backing vocals
  • Brian Baker – guitar
  • Greg Graffin – lead and backing vocals
  • Brett Gurewitz – guitar, backing vocals
  • Greg Hetson – guitar
  • Brooks Wackerman – drums

Additional musicians

  • Mikaleno – sitar <small>(track 11)</small>

Production and design

  • Brett Gurewitz – producer, mixing <small>(all except track 9)</small>
  • Greg Graffin – producer
  • Billy Joe Bowers – recording
  • Jerry Finn – mixing <small>(track 9)</small>
  • Jeff Moses – assistant engineer
  • Phillip Brousard – assistant engineer
  • Bob Ludwig – mastering
  • Mackie Osborne – art direction, design
  • Chris Martin – praying family illustration

Charts

Weekly charts

{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"

|+Weekly chart performance for The Process of Belief

!scope="col"|Chart (2002)

!scope="col"|Peak<br/>position

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! scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)

| align="center"|77

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Year-end charts

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+Year-end chart performance for The Process of Belief

! scope="col"| Chart (2002)

! scope="col"| Position

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!scope="row"|Canadian Alternative Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)

|122

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!scope="row"|Canadian Metal Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)

| 59

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References

<!-- This is a licensed stream for the album, which is allowed under Wikipedia polices -->

  • The Process of Belief at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)