Rise Against - Appeal To Reason [Jewel Case] - Music & Performance - CD

Chicago's Rise Against is anything but a single-minded musical outfit. An astounding fusion of unhinged power, ear grasping melodies, stimulating lyrics and the ability to reach an audience in both underground and mainstream circles, they have redefined the rules. To date, the band has released four albums plus a rare material EP, and a DVD called Generation Lost. Each of their past two albums have sold just shy of 1/2 million copies in the U.S. with each album garnering three full on Modern Rock radio hits. The first single is 'Reeducation (Through Labor)' hit radio airwaves in August 2008.

If ever there was a year to release a political punk album it was 2008, when the U.S. was consumed by the wildest presidential campaign in modern history. It seems like the perfect backdrop for Rise Against to release Appeal to Reason, their third major-label record, and in a way it is -- certainly, the group rages against the moral decay rotting the core of the U.S. on the opening "Collapse (Post-Amerika)," just as they strike out against the slow dumbing down of America on "Re-Education (Of Labor)" and tell Iraqi soldier stories on "Hero of War." The latter showcases the acoustic guitars that helped goose 2006's The Sufferer & the Witness into the Billboard Top Ten but the rest boast the manic rapid-fire hardcore delivery that hearkens back to Rise Against's politically minded forefathers Bad Religion. This balance of plaintive modern folk and carefully traditional protest punk is offset by Rise Against's increasingly strong fondness for heavy, slick production, the kind where the rhythms are too tight and the guitars overdriven and clean, the kind where it sounds more like '80s metal than '80s punk. Rise Against is hardly the only modern punk band to be weighed down by this contradiction -- it's entirely too devoted on chops and gear, Guitar Center punk -- but it stings a little more with them as their ambitions, smarts, and skills are higher than their peers. They seem like they shouldn't have such a beefy, big sound, particularly as it obscures their message, giving the group a weird dichotomy: they are clean, accomplished musicians and sincere, socially conscious rockers but those two halves don't complement each other well, at least not on the well-intentioned Appeal to Reason. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Performer	Rise Against
Music genre	Punk Rock
Music subgenre	POP ROCK
Media format	CD
Original release date	2008
Is collectible	Y
Has parental advisory label	N
Number of discs	1
Track listing	Collapse (Post-Amerika), Long Forgotten Sons, Re-Education (Through Labor), Dirt Whispered, the, Kotov Syndrome, From Heads Unworthy, Strength to Go on, the, Audience of One, Entertainment, Hero of War, Savior, Hairline Fracture, Whereabouts Unknown
Record label	Interscope Records
Songwriter	Rise Against
Track name	Reeducation (Through Labor)
Music media format	CD
Is edited	N
Is enhanced	N