THE CD:“The Sufferer & The Witness” (Geffen)
PERFORMER: Rise Against
WEBSITE: www.riseagainst.com
CHOICE CUTS: Injection; Bricks; Under The Knife; Worth Dying For; Roadside
YOU’LL LIKE IT IF YOU LIKE: Politically charged, high-energy punk that fights till it dies and enough energy to make you forget about Red Bull.

Recently, Myspace put the new Rise Against CD “The Sufferer and the Witness” up to hear in its entirety. Skeptical of another pseudo-radical political punk band endorsing some crap like the overthrow of capitalism, I decided to give their new 13-song release, due out on 7.4, a listen. The band (Tim McIlrath, Joe Principe, Brandon Barnes, Chris Chasse) delivers a tight CD that will keep punk fans placated.

From the opening thrash on “Chamber The Cartridge,” the band catches your attention with their version of hardcore punk. McIlrath sings Is it to late to reverse what we’ve become? Save us from what we’ve become tonight…Eyes glazed with distrust/No sense of wrong or right. Not bad.

“Injection” is more in-yer face punk with nice tempo changes and good vocal harmonies. Oh yeah, the whoahs over the choruses set the song off proper. “Ready To Fall” is a more pop-punkish (you can check out the video here) tune you might like.

“Bricks” is straight-up thrash. McIlrath’s strong vocals combined with the tight, fast rhythm section (nice basslines) give this band (featured on the Van’s Warped Tour) a little bit of an edge over bands with a more derivative sound. I mean, sure, this band sounds like other punk bands, but these are punk bands I’d actually listen to.

“Under The Knife” is solid punk. “The Approaching Curve” features some spoken word lyrics over driving intro music, leading into slower, more powerful choruses. “Roadside” is a sullen tune that features female backing vocals, 8-bit sounding synth, and strings…something a little different.

There are a lot of rock bands out there that are good, and it’s tough to stand out when even Burger King is putting out punk music. Regardless of whether you think that music is an appropriate vehicle for societal change, Rise Against is a good enough band to to not need any political posture. Check ‘em out, see what you think.

— By Nick Harrah

This entry was posted on Friday, June 30th, 2006 at 5:10 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.