Song writing: Brett Gurewitz expressed that the album “New Maps Of Hell” was a bit regressive and conservative, but also mentioned that they were exploring new rock songs and going back to their roots as a garage band.
Recording: The band recorded and laid overdubs at Grandmaster Recorders in Hollywood, CA for the first time. They used the same Neve console as Sound City, which made Joe Barresi comfortable. Background vocals were recorded at Brett’s house. Jay used a ’78 Fender Precision bass guitar for this album.
Double-disc: It was hinted in Bad Religion’s 2006 DVD that “New Maps of Hell” would be a double-disc, but it ended up being a deluxe edition with three new songs. The tracklist went through changes, and one song, “New Chapter,” was dropped.
Tracklist: Originally, 27 songs were conceived for the album, but only 16 made the final cut. The tracklist was changed prior to the release, and “Requiem” was changed to “Requiem For Dissent.” “New Chapter” was removed from the final release.
Album title: The title “New Maps of Hell” was inspired by a photo shoot for the record where they saw the title of someone’s song on vinyl. They liked the concept of maps because it represented exploring new material.
Artwork: The artwork for the album features wood engraving illustrations by Gustave Doré, depicting a scene from Dante’s “The Divine Comedy.” This is a reference to their previous album, “How Could Hell Be Any Worse?”
Lasting Legacy: Brett reflects on the album in 2020, mentioning that the song “New Dark Ages” has aged well and its chorus warning against science denial and anti-intellectualism is even more relevant today. He also mentions that “Honest Goodbye” is one of their weirder songs but a sentimental favorite, inspired by Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood.”
Guest musicians: Vanna, a former band on Epitaph, contributed vocals to the album.
This content was originally written by the badass contributors of thebrpage.net, the best superfan resource and website that exists for any band, let alone the best band in the whole entire world. I’ve been lurking on that site for over 20 years and if you’re into Bad Religion as much as I am, I’m sure you’re familiar. If you are not, go there right now and never come back to this site again. You should, and I totally understand.
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