This just might be their best work in 25 years. [Jan 2013, p.92]

Alternative Press

Nov 21, 2012

When stripped back to basics the Brains are as brilliantly brutal as ever. [Dec 2012, p.88]

It's best to sit back and let the power of visionary punk rock wash over you.

Into The Future is a heroic act of denial, nonetheless. The remaining Brains still burn with magnesium-strip intensity. [Jan 2013, p.82]

Although none of its 13 tracks hit as hard as the early '80s, "mash"-pit ragers that made them famous, they still sound vital on the Rasta-praising punk pummeler "Popcorn" and the 88-second frenzy "Yes I."

Into the Future fares better than the stale output of most reunited punk acts and also rises above a weak rehash for the sake of nostalgia. Always true to their original vision, Bad Brains continue sailing on.

Bad Brains still sounds best when it's angry, though.

Although this may not be the band's greatest work, at least it's not a parody of what was. Soak that Positive Mental Attitude up.

The midtempo grunge-metal and reggae jams, more sustainable channels for grown-ass anger, feel most like home.

True, some of the reggae songs a re a bit lightweight, but on the punk numbers, Bad Brains' righteous fevour remains undimmed. [24 Nov 2012, p.53]

While Into the Future, like Build a Nation before it, harkens back to the Brains' golden age, it's not the ROIR Sessions. The band couldn't recreate that sort of spitfire aggression today if they tried, and it would be almost unfair to expect them to. But it's close.

Sloppiness has crept into their once-perfect attack, and there is a certain any-era-of-modern-rock, unstuck-in-time vibe to the production choices and songwriting.

Into the Future ultimately stands as a middling Bad Brains effort.

These sky-surfing legends may have another great album in 'em yet, but for all its intermittently irie moments, Into the Future isn't it.