Bad Religion is still kicking with a 12th album and a tour

After 20-plus years of carrying the torch for intelligent, melodic punk rock, Bad Religion continues to demonstrate vitality in a music world dominated by lightweight, parent-safe "punk" upstarts like Blink-182 and Sum 41. As Saturday's sold-out show at the Nation proved, age hasn't tempered the band's passion or idealism, and although countless lesser lights faithfully mimic the "Bad Religion sound," few approach the quality of its originators.

BR's 12th studio album, The Process of Belief (released in January), finds the band back on Epitaph Records, the label BR founded in the early '80s to release its own albums when it was still a struggling Southern California hardcore band. Moreover, the 15-track record features guitarist/songwriter (and Epitaph owner) Brett Gurewitz for the first time since 1994's Stranger Than Fiction. Both developments signal new life for the band: BR's bumpy five-album stint on Atlantic Records launched it onto "alternative" radio and MTV with demi-hits like "Infected" and "21st Century (Digital Boy)," but poor promotion and commercial apathy relegated BR to an opening slot on a Blink-182 arena tour, while singer Greg Graffin proved incapable of shouldering all the band's songwriting weight. Just when it seemed like Bad Religion was in danger of becoming that most wretched of oxymorons, a "punk rock nostalgia act," Gurewitz's return triggered the best BR album of the last decade.

Simply put, The Process of Belief is a killer album, loaded with the catchy hooks, incisive lyrics and multilayered "oozin' aahs" that longtime BR fans have come to expect. The band's three-guitar (!) frontline, and the addition of prodigious drummer Brooks Wackerman, add new dimensions to the trademark "Bad Religion sound." There's something for everyone on Process: Diehards yearning for the frenetic assault of Suffer and No Control will take heart in the album's first three songs, none of which clocks in at over two minutes, while fans of a slower, heavier sound may prefer the midtempo crunch of "Epiphany" and "The Defense." There's "Kyoto Now!" for the political punks, "You Don't Belong" for the alienated masses and the plaintive "Sorrow" for, well, everybody - one reviewer even called it "punk's first post-Sept. 11 anthem" after West Coast radio stations began playing it in October.

And for those academic types who just can't get enough of Graffin's erudite lyrics - e.g. "The anechoic nebula rotating in my brain is persuading me contritely to persist," there's "Materialist" - "You're obsessed and distressed 'cause you can't make any sense of this ludicrous nonsense and incipient senescence that will deem your common sense useless". (When not on tour with Bad Religion, Graffin teaches evolutionary biology at Cornell.)

Like all BR albums, Process comes and goes quickly - clocking in at just over 35 minutes - but unlike the band's last few releases, it merits repeated listens.

Although label obligations prevented Gurewitz, "Mr. Brett," from joining his bandmates on-stage in D.C., his reinvigorating presence was felt throughout the breathless live show. Few bands since the Ramones deliver as much bang for your concert buck: BR managed to pack twenty-seven songs into an 80-minute set. Tellingly, the band didn't play any songs off its last two major-label records; otherwise, the set list covered the full range of BR's career, from early thrashers like "Fuck Armageddon (This is Hell)" and "Do What You Want" to newer fan favorites like "American Jesus" - which featured the audience on the snide closing chant "One nation, under God".

Opening act Less Than Jake caused a minor stampede at the merchandise table between sets, but it was clearly a Bad Religion crowd, and the band didn't disappoint. Singer Graffin accentuated his folksy, clear baritone with frantic hand gestures at himself, his bandmates, and the audience, while new drummer Wackerman, a good 15 years younger than his balding bandmates, stole the show, adding virtuoso fills to BR classics such as "Anesthesia" and "Atomic Garden."

The closing 1-2 punch of "American Jesus" and "21st Century (Digital Boy)" had the crowd on its feet as one, roaring along with every word. After 20 years of high-octane, high-IQ punk rock, Bad Religion can still deliver a (Bad) Religious concert experience.