Rise Against – Appeal To Reason

Rise Against is a band with a message and they do not only carry it out in their lyrics. Their new album “Appeal To Reason” comes with a PETA flyer, the digipack is made out of recycled paper and they’re using vegetable ink. So if you’re really hungry, you can just lick the booklet for a bit and get your daily dose of vitamins.

But these guys believe in what they do and they don’t go about it halfheartedly. They’re even questioning themselves on this album, asking if their transition to a major label was the smartest thing to do. After the excellent “The Sufferer And The Witness”, they’ve written a new batch of songs that is equally impressive. You might’ve already heard lead single “Re-Education (Through Labor)” but opener “Collapse (Post-Amerika)” and the ballad-like “Audience Of One” are equally impressive. Same thing can basically be said of all the other songs on here come to think of it.

McIlrath still has one of the coolest voices around and with the rest of the band throwing punches while maintaining a pop sensibility and producers Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore make the whole thing sound crispy and crunchy, Rise Against came up with another great addition to every punkrocker’s CD collection.
Score: 8 out of 10
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