Rise Against

So, what do you guys think of the new Rise Against album called "Appeal To Reason"?

I'm not quite sure if that many people on here listen to RA, considering that they play a somewhat different type of music and more importantly, have created a lot of fuzz in the states. I remember when I had the chance to watch Fuse TV and the likes pretty much every day, I started getting annoyed by the bands that were on rotation all the time, which should be the case right now with Rise Against. The situation over here in Germany is a lot different, luckily, so there's pretty much no chance that any RA song will ever be played on the radio or on TV.

Back to the main question, the new album. I've been a huge Rise Against fan for the last years, despite them signing to Geffen Records and putting out more predictable albums. My favourite album will always remain Revolutions Per Minute, followed by The Unraveling and Siren Song. For some reason their last album, This is noise, simply wasn't doing it for me. There were a few great songs as always but too many songs left no impression at all and became boring really soon.

Appeal To Reason on the other hand really reminds me of their early sound, yet shows how they have changed over the years. The sound is sort of "back to the roots" but Tim's singing has remained the way it has been recently, as in rather melodic than aggressive. For some songs it works allright but at times I do prefer the more aggressive singing of the earlier albums. AtR perfectly shows his entirely vocal range and the songs aren't overly catchy, which is a great thing in my eyes. Overall I was really surpised by this album because I expected it to be a lot more main-stream and worse than it actually turned out. There are some of the best songs that they've ever created on there (Collapse or Savior), a lot of great tracks and only tw or three songs that are lame in my opinion. If they would have swapped the last three songs for Obstructed View and Tonight We Dance, this may have been their best album so far but it's great the way it is - I'd propably rate it a 7 or 8 out of 10.

What do you guys think?

I have not heard a song past "Re-Education" from that album, but I will maintain that Rise Against's best song is "Injection". Debate if you like, but that song is awesome

I am a big fan of RPM... I got into to Rise Against because of a video called "urban ninja"... I am at work right now and I can't go to youtube so I think this is the video www.metacafe.com/watch/1426/the_urban_ninja/

I will check it when I go home tomorrow

I like Rise Against alright, they're consistently good..great but I hear so much of Rise Against on the radio and on tv that I've kind of just ambivalent and haven't bothered checking out Appeal to Reason tho I do have it downloaded.

They have a new self-titled ep coming out on vinyl supposed to be limited to 5000 with the first 1000 ordered being limited to marble or something

i love appeal to reason. i cant really expand on it any more than that. the only reason i havent listened to it in awhile is due to my tga obsession. but wasnt their last record "the sufferer and the witness," not "this is noise"? and i have to say i love rockin out to their journey cover...maybe im the only one...

I don't like this album at all, with the exception of a few songs or so.

The Unraveling and Revolutions Pre Minute were golden.
Siren Song was great too, and Suffer and The Witness had great songs like Injection and Chamber the Cartridge

i am pretty sure "this is noise" is just a collection of covers they have done of other bands music. Not a true rise against album

well "this is noise" was just an ep and not a full lp

my favourite rise against album will i guess alway remain "siren song of the counter culture"

coming back to "appeal to reason": when i first heard through the lp i did not like at all. but going through it a few times i started liking it.
there are some songs that rly sticked in my head, like from heads unworthy


all together i have to say, appeal to reason is not that bad as many people say but still they worst rise against record

steph wrote:

..maybe im the only one...

Nope, you're definitely not the only one.

I really liked the 'This Is Noise' EP & it was actually that EP that made me start listening to Black Flag because the covers Rise Against did were awesome in my opinion.

In terms of 'Appeal To Reason' it's good but it's definitely not my favourite RA album.

My favourites on ATR would have to be "Collapse (Post-Amerika)" (I saw them play this live and if I had died after seeing it, I would have died a happy man), "Entertainment' & "Hero of War".

But I really like and prefer the raw sound of 'The Unravelling' and in my opinion it is their best album.

At the end of the day, Rise Against will always be one of favourite bands and they've only put out one album that I would give less the 5 out of 10 and that is 'The Sufferer and the Witness'

I think Rise Against has gotten progressively worse over time. I've seen them lots and at one point they were definitely my favorite band. The sufferer and the witness drained me out though. It was hardly new or exciting and appeal to reason hasn't bucked that trend in my opinion. That being said Entertainment and Savior are good tracks off that album.
If they sold out completely and just did acoustic stuff, i sadly think that i would enjoy their music more nowadays.

new song on their myspace.

its eh. just a typical rise against song.

oldgospelchoir wrote:

new song on their myspace.

its eh. just a typical rise against song.

not necessarily a bad thing... but yeah... certainly not one of their best songs.

I personally think they are completely nuts politically, but their polished angry punkish hard rockish sound is amazing and unmatched.

Their singles are always the more-polished song, remember. It's pretty good. Gets really aggressive in the bridge. I wouldn't have any worries for the album

It's a good solid start for Endgame. I'm already a huge fan of RA so no matter what, I'll probably end up buying multiple copies of the album.

LIke Gaslight, anything and everything Rise Against is good in my books. I really dig Help is on the Way. As always, the lyrics pack a punch. Endgame should be sick, the cover is at least!

The cover reminded me of Hero Of War at first glance, for some reason.

Speaking of covers, Rise should do more lol

CluckyB wrote:

oldgospelchoir wrote:

new song on their myspace.

its eh. just a typical rise against song.

not necessarily a bad thing... but yeah... certainly not one of their best songs.

I personally think they are completely nuts politically, but their polished angry punkish hard rockish sound is amazing and unmatched.

i agree (except for the being nuts politically, they're spot on politically)
this song is just kinda eh. i'm pretty much the world's biggest rise against fanboy, and i definitely like this song, but it just sounds so similar to the last album to me. i hope the rest differentiates itself more. i'm sure i'll like it either way, just not as much as RPM or Siren song, or probably sufferer

This is my least favorite Rise Against release but still has some decent songs on it. I think the last time I saw them was the tour for this record with Alkaline Trio, Gaslight Anthem, and Thrice.

I have always heard this stuff about people not digging their "newer material." At this point, I would say I have almost heard more negative response towards it, than positive. Every one is completely entitled to their opinions but I cannot help but feel people are missing something.
Sure their newer stuff is heavy political, anti-war, and/or heavy with controversial issues, but they haven't strayed away from punk itself. People rejoice their first couple albums as their prime but I disagree. I LOVE early Rise just as much as 2011 Rise, so it's not a modern thing. I respect the hell out of them for singing about things not many sing against (pun). They play/write with hearts/minds on their sleeves, some of which requires rebelling against controversial issues. Taking a stand, letting their words be heard with aggression and melodies, not caring what people think, if that ain't punk, I don't know what is!
For example, the song "Collapse" is I think one of their best tunes. It's brutally blunt, but factual. It's basically saying we're fuckin up the planet and have no one to blame for it but ourselves. Punk in the seventies , eighties and even early 2000 is different than punk in 2011. These are real issues people need to hear, and if they ignore to, Rise will scream them at ya lol.
Rebels WITH causes, yeah?
There all sorts of new branches on the Punk tree, also including some Soul from our beloved TGA! Punk is severely adaptable.
Anyway, that's my soapbox, ya'll got opinions, and God bless ya for em

angryjohnnyN1930 wrote:

I have always heard this stuff about people not digging their "newer material." At this point, I would say I have almost heard more negative response towards it, than positive. Every one is completely entitled to their opinions but I cannot help but feel people are missing something.
Sure their newer stuff is heavy political, anti-war, and/or heavy with controversial issues, but they haven't strayed away from punk itself. People rejoice their first couple albums as their prime but I disagree. I LOVE early Rise just as much as 2011 Rise, so it's not a modern thing. I respect the hell out of them for singing about things not many sing against (pun). They play/write with hearts/minds on their sleeves, some of which requires rebelling against controversial issues. Taking a stand, letting their words be heard with aggression and melodies, not caring what people think, if that ain't punk, I don't know what is!
For example, the song "Collapse" is I think one of their best tunes. It's brutally blunt, but factual. It's basically saying we're fuckin up the planet and have no one to blame for it but ourselves. Punk in the seventies , eighties and even early 2000 is different than punk in 2011. These are real issues people need to hear, and if they ignore to, Rise will scream them at ya lol.
Rebels WITH causes, yeah?
There all sorts of new branches on the Punk tree, also including some Soul from our beloved TGA! Punk is severely adaptable.
Anyway, that's my soapbox, ya'll got opinions, and God bless ya for em

I totally agree with you, they are making a change in the world one step at a time

I'm not in the Rise Against's target audience anymore. I was when the Unraveling and RPM came out but not much anymore. There's just not much about them that I find interesting anymore. Personal opinion, only.

Gaslight23 wrote:

angryjohnnyN1930 wrote:

I have always heard this stuff about people not digging their "newer material." At this point, I would say I have almost heard more negative response towards it, than positive. Every one is completely entitled to their opinions but I cannot help but feel people are missing something.
Sure their newer stuff is heavy political, anti-war, and/or heavy with controversial issues, but they haven't strayed away from punk itself. People rejoice their first couple albums as their prime but I disagree. I LOVE early Rise just as much as 2011 Rise, so it's not a modern thing. I respect the hell out of them for singing about things not many sing against (pun). They play/write with hearts/minds on their sleeves, some of which requires rebelling against controversial issues. Taking a stand, letting their words be heard with aggression and melodies, not caring what people think, if that ain't punk, I don't know what is!
For example, the song "Collapse" is I think one of their best tunes. It's brutally blunt, but factual. It's basically saying we're fuckin up the planet and have no one to blame for it but ourselves. Punk in the seventies , eighties and even early 2000 is different than punk in 2011. These are real issues people need to hear, and if they ignore to, Rise will scream them at ya lol.
Rebels WITH causes, yeah?
There all sorts of new branches on the Punk tree, also including some Soul from our beloved TGA! Punk is severely adaptable.
Anyway, that's my soapbox, ya'll got opinions, and God bless ya for em

I totally agree with you, they are making a change in the world one step at a time

ditto, sometimes reading the reviews and whatnot, it seems like they're "out of fashion" or whatever, not that that matters. (i can't believe i just said "out of fashion", what am i, a grandma??) but it seems more like sour grapes from people that are pissed that another band is more "mainstream" than they once were. because to me, rise against still rocks, and they haven't "sold out".

Hell yeah Steph! Selling out doesn't just mean selling out anymore, it seems now it can also mean success! Personally I think Rise have used their pull to drive our focus to critical issues. To do that and still rock hard ain't easy! They are spokes-peeps for a world whos spokes-peeps are few and far between. Controversy isn't ALL they sing about either