How Could Hell Be Any Worse?

How Could Hell Be Any Worse?
Studio album by Bad Religion
Released	January 19, 1982
Recorded	October–November 1980 and January 1981
Studio	Track Record, North Hollywood, California
Genre	Hardcore punk[1][2]
Length	29:40 55:14 (2004 re-release)
Label	Epitaph
Producer	Bad Religion
Bad Religion chronology
Bad Religion (1981) How Could Hell Be Any Worse? (1982) Into the Unknown (1983)

How Could Hell Be Any Worse? is the debut studio album by American punk rock band Bad Religion, released on January 19, 1982 by Epitaph Records.^[3][4] Released almost a year after their self-titled EP, it was financed from the sales of the self titled EP and partly by a $1,000 loan by guitarist Brett Gurewitz's father. Its success surprised the band when it sold 10,000 copies in under a year.

How Could Hell Be Any Worse? was recorded over two time periods at Track Record Studios in North Hollywood, California, during October–November 1980 and again in January 1981.^[5] After the original recording sessions, drummer Jay Ziskrout left Bad Religion and was replaced by his friend and the band's roadie Pete Finestone, who was brought in to complete the rest of the album. Though not yet credited as a member of the band, future guitarist Greg Hetson, who was in Circle Jerks during this time, provided a guitar solo on "Part III". How Could Hell Be Any Worse? was also Bad Religion's last album featuring Jay Bentley on bass for six years, until 1988's Suffer.

The front cover photograph was taken by Edward Colver near the Hollywood Bowl, while the back cover featured one of Gustave Dore's illustrations of Dante's Divine Comedy.^[5]