Review: Appeal to Reason by Rise Against

I started this review almost a month ago when I first received the album, but life gets in the way, and well, you know the rest. But as is the case with music, my view of Appeal To Reason has changed since first listen, so I have had to tweak some parts of my review.

Rise Against’s fifth album, Appeal to Reason, is in a sentence a somewhat imperfect, but solid angst punk album. Lead singer Tim McIlrath's vocals are still cutting, the bass lines are still heart thumping, and the drums still call for head banging, but in a way, they did sell out. I feel that the performance isn’t as solid, both musically, and ideologically. The album certainly reeks of politically charged lyrics, in light of the recent election, but about a third of the songs suffer from a lacking of heartfelt anger or admonition. All of this sadly starts only three tracks through the song, with Re-education (Through Labor). The lyrics are fairly strong. McIlrath screams “I won't believe the lies that hide the truth/I won't sweat one more drop for you/'Cuz we are the rust upon your gears”. But the feeling is slightly lacking and even the first time I heard it, I was ready for it to end by the first chorus. The opening track is strong, following Rise Against tradition, as is Hero of War, the only acoustic song on the album. Hero of War evenly fits into current events, as well as past wars. Though the song is no Swing Life Away, it is still a heartfelt tune. The album drones on with Radio Friendly punk hits, though some gems…. albeit imperfect are sparsed through the album. The album does break out a little bit-The Dirt Whispered recalls an almost pop-punk jangle, and Entertainment is almost a concept song, bringing in elements in the melody to back the lyrics, a new feat for Rise Against. Savior is one of the best songs, and I feel that it embodies the album fairly well, which brings up the question: why does the album end on screaming, profanity laden Whereabouts Unknown? The songs music and vocals mismatch through screaming lyrics that surprisingly, lack the strong ending a Rise Against album deserves. To sum up what I’ve been saying, the good songs are good, and bad songs are absolutely terrible. Rise Against is sadly facing the problem many angst bands such as Anti-Flag and Bad Religion have faced. They’re simply running out of steam. When a band puts that much energy into a couple of albums, its hard to keep the energy up to create a long lasting career. I have learned that this fulfills their current contract with Geffen records, so we may see a change on the next album, but until then, Appeal to Reason falls slightly below standard, yet still packs some meaningful anthems for the angry.

Final Grade: 73
Note: while a 73 may seem harsh, remember that I grade out of a “100”, not as a A, B, C, etc. grade where a 73 would be almost failing. Make sense?
Vocals/Lyrics: 16
Music: 16
Production: 17
Creativity: 14
Value (Was it worth the listen?): 10 (That's a NO, go get the four good songs yourself)