Greg Graffin's new album receives praise from Billboard!

With this dusky and starkly recorded collection, longtime Bad Religion howler Graffin becomes the second guy in recent months to temporarily trade in his rock'n'roll pedigree for that of an old-timey troubadour bringing old folk songs back to life. But where Bruce Springsteen used his "We Shall Overcome" stage to make mostly joyful noise, Graffin, as you'd expect from a lifelong punk, is more comfortable swimming around in folk's dark side; the characters he highlights are faithful but hope-free ("Talk About Suffering"), abandoned lovers ("Willie Moore") or simple stone-cold killers ("Omie Wise," "Little Sadie"). His icy rasp perfectly suited to such blackhearted tales, Graffin also uses the stripped-away detour to contribute a few of his own tracks, which figure exactly into the album's sense of dusty isolation.

—Jeff Vrabel
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