Rise Against – Appeal to Reason

Expectations can be a bitch. When one of your all time favourite bands come out with a new CD, you’re definitely excited for it. That was the case for Rise Against‘s Appeal to Reason, the band’s fifth studio album. I couldn’t wait to hear it and tried not to ruin it for myself by listening to anything else before I could get the full album. While yes, I skimmed over their single – Re-Education (Through Labor) – I only played it once and then waited to let it it find its place amongst the other twelve tracks on the record as the band intended it to be heard. But when that time came and I listened to the thirteen tracks front to back, I felt… disappointed.

Appeal To Reason wasn’t the record I was expecting. Yeah, it still sounds like Rise Against; only the album wasn’t really able to grab me. There was very little on the record that stood out and it seemed to be lacking that punch of raw, intense, anger that propelled their prior releases. It just seemed almost, dare I say, bland.

Still, this was a Rise Against record – I wasn’t about to shove it away just like that. So I listened to it again. And again. And again. Slowly, but surely, it grew on me. Certain songs began to peak out in the mix, making Appeal To Reason feel that much more like the Rise Against record I initially imagined. It starts off, like most of their albums do, with the fastest, heaviest track on the record; and whileCollapse (Post-Amerika) is no State of The Union, it still packs a angry, punk rock punch filled with lightning fast drumming and breakneck guitars ala A Wilhelm Scream. The single, Re-Education (Through Labor) shows off new comer Zach Blair’s guitar work and actually reminds me a lot of Ready To Fall with more shout-along sections. Kotov Syndrome falls somewhere in between The Siren Song of The Counter Culture and Revolutions Per Minute and the first ten seconds will make you think it’s 2003 again. Entertainment stays in that same vein with a great tempo and an unique vocal harmony- and an odd circus section – but the real gems fall on tracks four, eight and ten respectively.

With each and every listen, it is those songs that truly save this record and make me fall in love with the band every time. Track four, The Dirt Whispered, may not be the punkiest song on the album as they lean more to the melodic spectrum of their melodic hardcore sound but it takes the cake every listen. It sounds, and reads, like a follow-up to Dancing For Rain. It’s passionate without being cheesy and wouldn’t have looked out of place in Revolutions Per Minute.

Audience of One doesn’t pack the same punch, nor the same intensity – and in fact, the first thirty seconds are somewhat boring. But it is on this track that Tim McIlrath really shines and lets us vocals reach new harmonies and heights – like he did on The Sufferer & The Witness. Track ten, the now-necessary acoustic cut, Hero of War is void of any gimmick and leaves Swing Life Away as the acoustic love song. Instead, Hero of War takes a unique look at the war and the soldiers fighting it in an insightful, intelligent, and thought-provoking manner. It doesn’t preach or condemn but looks at the war from a drastically different point of view and it works better than words can say.

Unfortunately, amidst all of those songs are tracks that really don’t strike me in anyway. Yeah, I’ve listened to Hairline Fracture and Whereabouts Unknown close to a dozen times but other than the opening few lines of Hairline Fracture I would be hard pressed to describe the songs in any way. They’re just not memorable. Joe Principe’s bass line may be insanely good on Long Forgotten Sons, but the mid-tempo track fails to offer much more to get me excited about. From Heads Unworthy and The Strength to Go On fall victim to the same thing – good but not truly memorable. To top it all off, the entire record sounds oddly slick – which is even odder considering it come from the Blasting Room.

Despite that the record still has enough strong tracks to keep me coming back and I hope that with time the others will grow on me; that’s why it still gets a four. But as of now, Appeal to Reason doesn’t grab me in the same way Rise Against normally does – maybe hearing the songs live in December will change that though.