posted 10/22/2008 (Wed) @ 08:00 am
>>> Music Reviews
Rise Against - Appeal to Reason (2008)
Hardcore Punk / Punk Revival / Melodic Hardcore
Mid-Tempo Crisis
- Collapse (Post-Amerika)
- Long Forgotten Sons
- Re-Education (Through Labor)
- The Dirt Whispered
- Kotov Syndrome
- From Heads University
- The Strength To Go On
- Audience Of One
- Entertainment
- Hero Of War
- Savior
- Hairline Fracture
- Whereabouts Unknown
Rise Against seem to be on the lookout for something new, but they play it safe on Appeal to Reason, continuing, to the delight of hardcore fans, to rehash their tried and at times true formula. The tuneage retains its signature blare, thanks mostly to the razor sharp, blue collar guitarwork and instantly recognizable yawp of Tim McIlrath, but Rise Against’s by now familiar and easy-to-please simplicity is also their undoing in places.
Witness and suffer through opener “Collapse (Post-Amerika),” three chords or so worth of muscular yet tiresome punk rock. The songs on Appeal to Reason cry out for the guys to turn this ship into the wind and sail in a different direction, but Rise Against are damned when they don’t and damned when they do: most of the time, their forays into more overt pop-punk faceplant harder than Orange County junior high kids. Like The Offspring in serious need of throat lozenges, “The Dirt Whispered” calls out with a flotilla of “whoo-whoos.” Its fidgety bassline is sure to cause head nodding, and eventually sleep for anyone who’s heard Single File’s “Zombies Ate My Neighbors” or something similar before.
Moments of reprieve can be had in Rise Against’s typically hard-hitting, leftist lyrics. “You see the world through crosshairs and TVs, don’t you?” snarks “Kotov Syndrome,” an intriguing tune which takes its title from from a chess phenomenon wherein a player, feeling boxed-in, makes a foolish and hasty move, and loses the game.
Of course, their angry lyricism is at its best when pointed questions are asked and left up to the listener to contemplate. Lachrymose campfire strummer “Hero of War” serves up an antidote to the U.S. Army/Marines zealotry currently pimped via ass-hatted anthems by Kid Rock and 3 Doors Down in theaters across America. Self-immolating, depressive yin to the NASCAR scene’s lazily patriotic yang, “Hero of War” hits the listener over the head with shame:
“We took him away, a bag over his face, from his family and his friends / They took off his clothes / They pissed in his hands / I told them to stop / But then I joined in.”
The music, though, is slowed to a molasses crawl of the same few chords vamped out… and it’s not a knock you on your ass original progression, either.
Anthemic “Whereabouts Unknown” finishes the record with the expected flair, gunning the engine with a slow, clean build-up before unleashing the mid-tempo crunch. You can count on Rise Against to sound like Rise Against. The tempo’s just been drained away, leaving the old fans with more time to decide they’re bored.
Appeal to Reason lacks the tempo of previous releases from Rise Against, and a fair bit of the personality. In itself, the former isn’t necessarily a terrible thing, but at least in the past, if they wrote a shitty song, it was over in two minutes or less. Some punks can jump from baggy boardshorts into black slacks and slim ties and play nice with others in their old age, but mid-tempo just doesn’t suit “punk revivalists” Rise Against. To paraphrase the band themselves, I don’t hate you guys. I just want to save you while there’s still something left to save.
Tags: appeal to reason, disappointments, hardcore, punk, rise against
