The songs may not rock as hard as they once did, but that does not make them any less worthy. In fact, Rise Against has shown a remarkable maturity as a band. With its latest release the band has taken an opportunity to branch out and attempt new things musically, socially and politically, that might not have been possible if the band has stuck to its initial hardcore leanings.
Plain and simple: the band's major label debut, Siren Song for the Counter Culture, was an album that had a lot of hardcore elements – from fast and heavy guitars to lead singer Tim McIlrath using a lot of Ian Makaye-esque vocal screams. It was a natural progression for a band that counted Minor Threat and Fugazi among its influences.
In contrast, Appeal To Reason is not that album. In fact, this time around the band more closely resembles The Offspring or new Bad Religion than it does Minor Threat. McIlrath seems to have found his voice – or at least the melody in his voice – and the band has given him the heavy riffs and straight up hard core rock and roll instrumentation to make it work.
What does remain from that era of the band's history is the political and social idealism that drives the band. There's not a song that goes by that does not have the band's trademark progressive viewpoint, which should please even the most disaffected fan.
The track "Re-Education (Throught Labor)" is one of the best examples on the album. The song is a heavier song that has straight metal tendencies. "We crawl on our knees for you. Under a sky no longer blue. We sweat all day long for you. We sew seeds to see us through.," McIlrath sings on the chorus. "Sometimes dreams just don't come true We wait to reap what we are due."
The band's new-found melodic tendencies give them the ability to vary the pace and the feeling behind each one of the songs. The track "Kotov Syndrome" has more of a skate punk sound and a faster pace than a song like "From Heads Unworthy", which has a ripping guitar intro that actually sounds like something the Scorpions might have released in their heyday.
The track "Kotov Syndrome" plays off the country's current path. Its positions analyzed and over-analyzed, America finds itself trapped in a corner and the current leaders suddenly make a move that baffles all logic and reasoning, putting the country into a position worse than where it once stood.
Rise Against even slows down the pace to an acoustic pace on "Hero of War", an anti-war protest song that tells the tale of a young man who eagerly accepts his place in the military and slowly realizes that ideals have no place in his post. "A hero of war. That's what I'll be. And when I come home, they'll be damn proud of me. I'll carry this flag to the grave if I must. Because it's a flag that I love and a flag that I trust," McIlrath sings behind a simple acoustic guitar.
"I kicked in the door and yelled my commands. The children they cried but I got my man. I took him away, a bag over his face, from his family and fiends. They took off his clothes. They pissed in his hands, I told them to stop. But then I joined in. We beat him with guns and batons not just once but again and again."
The album closes with "Collapse (Post-Amerika)" a blistering punk rock song that takes a none-too-subtle jab at the current administration in these great United States and talks about the direction the country is heading with the leadership as it stands now. It pleads with the country (at least those who are listening) to make a change and help put the nation back onto the right track.
Rise Against has taken all of its protest attitude and all of its social leanings and has given America another truly great album. Appeal To Reason is both a wake-up call for the country and a song of hope for those who can see a clear path on the horizon. While the songs may not be as driven and hard as on albums past, they lack nothing in definition and power of the word. And when it comes down to it, Rise Against want you to know that there is power in the meaning.
Download Worthy:
1. "Re-Education (Through Labor)"
2. "A Hero of War"
3. "Kotov Syndrome"
4. "Hairline Fracture"
5. "Collapse (Post-Amerika)"