posted 11/02/2006 (Thu) @ 01:02 pm
>>> Music Reviews
Rise Against - The Sufferer and the Witness (2006)
Siren song of the counter-counterculture.
- Chamber The Cartridge
- Injection
- Ready To Fall
- Bricks
- Under The Knife
- Prayer of the Refugee
- Drones
- The Approaching Curve
- Worth Dying For
- Behind Closed Doors
- Roadside
- The Good Left Undone
- Survive
Up on top, it’s nothing but gold teeth, big cars and big butts; trolling in the underground, you meet a lot of blind moles that think they know what “independent” means. Rise Against and bands of their ilk fall by the wayside in critical circles. Their music is somehow too abrasive for MTV but not nifty-keen enough for hipsters.
This critical hazing ritual has been enough to net them a “punk” badge in the past, but with “The Sufferer and the Witness,” these punks rise to bridge the gap with a fresh ear and a newfound knack for fusing fury with sensitivity– without illicting jaded groans. Comparisons to The Who for their teenage angst (”Ready to Fall”) are not without merit, but the caterwauling evocative-of-the-Pete-Townshend-windmill guitarwork is yet more appropriate. “Chamber the Cartridge” opens innocently enough with war drumming and the dire lilt of distorted electric guitar. Then everything goes to hell and back in just under 43 minutes.
“The Sufferer and the Witness” contains enough adrenaline to kill. The “Chamber”-”Injection”-”Ready” trifecta hooks ears, then Rise Against throws “Bricks” at us for a minute and a half. Anthemic riffing on “Behind Closed Doors” pumps the proverbial fist into the air, sitting twice as well next to the impassioned, Ginsberg-infused howl of singer Tim McIlrath. Things settle down only on the restrained, but surprisingly powerful “Roadside,” a duet with Emily Schambra of Holy Roman Empire which conquers the orchestral side of the coin in terms of emotional intensity and proves that Rise Against learned something from critics’ response to the maudlin “Swing Life Away” (from 2004’s “Siren Song of the Counterculture”).
“Survive” is a perfect closer. It’s all over the map–sections supported by spastic hardcore punk drumming break into dizzying pedal tone riffs break into a swirling mass of driving harmony, concluding the record with hammer-to-nail finality.
The final word is pretty straightforward, really. Fans of Bad Religion, Social Distortion, and other long-running American punk combos will dig this record mightily even as naysayers dig its grave. In the end, it’s just damn good rock music that takes no prisoners. If that doesn’t count for crossover appeal, what does?
Tags: emo, hardcore, metalcore, punk, screamo
