True North (Bad Religion album)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	6.9/10[17]
Metacritic	75/100[18]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[19]
The A.V. Club	B+[20]
Consequence of Sound	C+[21]
DIY	[1]
The Line of Best Fit	7/10[22]
musicOMH	[23]
PopMatters	8/10[24]
Punknews.org	[25]
Spin	7/10[26]

True North was met with mostly positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 75 based on 21 reviews.[18] The review aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave True North a 6.9 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.[17]

Reviews largely targeted the fact that True North was Bad Religion's 16th studio album. Johnny Owen of DIY said that "it's fair to say that SoCal melodic hardcore elder statesmen Bad Religion's style and themes are pretty well established", but praised the band for including "some of the strongest, most focused material that the band have recorded in many years".[1] The Line of Best Fit's Joe Goggins said that "originality might no longer reign in the world of Bad Religion, but reliability and accessibility certainly do", and declared True North "another solid addition to a formidable canon". Writing for The Boston Globe, Scott McLennan wrote, "Bad Religion's populist positions remain unyielding, but after 30 years the band still puts a fresh face to the struggles it sees."[27] Others were more critical of Bad Religion's adherence to form, with Ryan Bray of Consequence of Sound saying that True North "integrates itself a little too well to stand apart from the pack",[21] and Martin Headon of musicOMH declaring it "a decent album, but one with no real standout tracks".[23] Andy Johnson of PopMatters wrote that, "If there's a downside to the decision to focus on a lean, fast sound, it's that it encourages Bad Religion's longtime tendency towards a kind of creative inertia."[24]

Several critics praised "Robin Hood in Reverse" as the standout track of the album. Ian Winwood of the BBC referred to the track as "a frenetically paced number packed with chorus-sized verses that will be familiar to anyone who, over the years, has found pleasure in the music made by Bad Religion".[28] Chris Moran of Punknews.org compared "Robin Hood in Reverse" to Bad Religion's 1994 album Stranger than Fiction, praising "Graffin's direct social commentary and uncanny vocabulary arsenal".[25] Spin's Kory Grow, meanwhile, used the song as an example of True North's "clever, unforgettable hooks".[26] "Fuck You" also received praise, with Jason Heller of The A.V. Club calling the song "one of the album's most eloquent tracks, both musically and lyrically",[20] and Jason Lymangrover of AllMusic using the track as an example of the album's "rare moments of lyrical levity".[19]

True North had a strong commercial showing in Europe and North America. In the US, the album spent two weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, peaking at number 19.[29] It also appeared on the Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums charts, peaking at number seven and number four, respectively.[30][31] The album also appeared on the Billboard Canadian Albums Chart at number 14.[32] In the United Kingdom, True North peaked at number 129.[33] Elsewhere in Europe, the album reached number 27 in Austria,[34] number five in Finland,[35] number ten in Germany,[36] number 86 in the Netherlands,[37] number 31 in Sweden,[38] and number 14 in Switzerland.[39] Outside of Europe and North America, True North also appeared on the Japanese Oricon chart, at number 56.[40]

True North appeared at number seven in Punknews.org's list of the top 20 albums of 2013.[41]