"New Maps of Hell," which hit stores last summer, is the 14th studio album in a career that stretches back to the group's eponymous 1981 debut EP and the full-length debut from the following year, "How Could Hell Be Any Worse?" The new album marks the band's third since the return of founding guitarist/co-songwriter Brett Gurewitz, who originally departed the group on less-than-amicable terms in 1994.

"I think we're reaching back to our roots as a garage band and doing some really aggressive music," Gurewitz said in the band's online biography. "But we're also trying to look forward and write some really interesting new rock songs."

"In the end we do this because we still care deeply about inspiring people," singer Greg Graffin added. "I know that may sound a little lofty, but the truth is when I was a teenager, music was only thing that gave me hope in this world."

Bad Religion guitarist Greg Hetson recently helped found a punk-rock supergroup of sorts. Black President--featuring Hetson, Goldfinger's Charlie Paulson, Unwritten Law bassist Pat Kim, former Guttermouth and current Bullets and Octane drummer Ty Smith and lead singer Christian Martucci, formerly of the late Dee Dee Ramone's backing band--is hoping to release its still-untitled debut album later this year.