Rise Against - Endgame
Rating
RIYL
Bad ReligionOffspring
Green Day
Bayside
Release Date
03/15/2011
Label
Geffen RecordsTracklist
1 - Architects2 - Help Is On The Way
3 - Make It Stop (September’s Children)
4 - Disparity By Design
5 - Satellite
6 - Midnight Hands
7 - Survivor Guilt
8 - Broken Mirrors
9 - Wait For Me
10 - A Gentlemen’s Coup
11 - This Is Letting Go
12 - Endgame
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Rise Against are a band that have come to be known for their high-energy live shows and albums that manage to seamlessly blend post-hardcore musical power, gruff vocals, and alluring melodies into a cohesive powerhouse. They received some backlash with the release of Siren Songs of the Counter-Culture because they incorporated even more melody and what some argued to be pop-sensibility, making the hardcore purists turn up their noses a bit, but it also afforded them a respectable jump in exposure. Fast-forward to the release of their most commercially successful album yet, Appeal to Reason, where the band experienced a change to the line-up in the guitarist department, but also the biggest alienation of long-time fans: the songs embraced a borderline arena-rock quality in the songwriting, with very little semblance of their punk rock roots. With the release of Endgame, Rise Against retreat back to a sound that can be likened more to The Sufferer & The Witness though it still feels a bit “off” to this avid supporter.
I'll admit to being both harsher on this album because of the standard I've come to expect from the band *ahem – Siren Songs is perfect in my book* and equally more prone to make excuses because they're near and dear to my heart (so I'm probably not the person who should review the album, but you're going to hear it straight from a fan's perspective, like it or not). Up front, I'll say that one huge sigh of relief can be breathed because they didn't feel the need to go acoustic-ballad on us, something that worked surprising well with “Swing Life Away” and fell flat after more than 2 or 3 listens with “Hero of War.” The boys definitely keep things rolling at a rather fast pace from start to finish, and overall I can listen to each entry proudly.
Two other notable improvements over the band's last release are found in frontman Tim McIlrath's lyric writing and vocal performance, and the band's dropping of the horridly generic guitar riffs that were passed off on us last go round. Don't mistake me to say that they're treading unexplored lands with their writing this time around, but it also doesn't sound like the latest Green Day, Sum 41, or other radio-friendly unit shifter. The likeness to genre veterans Bad Religion is recognizable once more, which is the spark that initially got me listening to Rise Against years ago. The “off” I referred to previously is probably in the lack of strength in their delivery; there's some “umph” to it, sure, but it doesn't feel like the urgency of a band versus the world scenario that I used to feel when I popped their discs in – it truly made you feel empowered to move mountains and start revolutions! New Rise Against isn't happy with the state of the world and would surely love to change it, but I feel like time, maturity, and spotlight has bred acceptance in their own limitations.
Enough with the bitching about what “should” or “could” be because at its core this is a catchy album that still possesses a kick with a fair share of fist pumps on the side. Songs such as “Satellite,” “Disparity by Design,” and “A Gentlemen's Coup” excite me for the prospect of heading to a Rise Against show to feed off of the adrenaline-drenched, pit-inciting, microphone throwing performances they'll surely give way to. “Broken Mirrors” has that clunking drive that made me love songs such as “Dancing for Rain.” “Architects” and “Help is on the Way” could have easily been tracks that would've been at home on The Sufferer & the Witness. All in all, the guys deliver a strong album when viewed out of the context of their previous offerings. I whole-heartedly feel this album also has a lot of longevity in it as well, not so much as a “grower,” but as an album that will manage to continue feeling equally as enjoyable on listen number 100 as it did on listen number 1. If I can manage to check expectations and selfish desires at the door when I put my headphones on, I'm compelled to say that Rise Against have delivered a melodic, post-hardcore punk (even if not as much as it used to be) record, which is exactly what they're known for. At the end of the day, that's a pretty good statement for a genre that's not exactly the most surefire way to gain acceptance, but still coming from a band that has garnered quite a bit of attention over the past few years.
--Jeremy Deal
Comments
Lehigh Valley, PA
This album was way better than I thought it was gonna be.
Illinois
this grew on me. at first, i just thought it was decent. i've probably listened to it more than any other album within the last two weeks.
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Baton Rouge
The overseriousness and repetition of this album have so-far impeded my progress past track six, but Jeremy, you get major bonus points for that Nirvana reference.
Boobs
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Fishers, Indiana
I still have to listen to this. As huge a fan I was of this band around the time of Siren Song for the Counterculture, I find myself more and more apathetic toward them.
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Baton Rouge
Yeah, more fro, less beard.
Boobs
http://thenicsperiment.blogspot.com/
Illinois
haha
honestly, i paid no attention to their last album. i loved everything they did before it, just didn't like the singles off that last album. this one seems to be a lot more accessible to their past fans, at least to me.
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Thank you Nicholas, I was hoping someone would appreciate that :) Yeah, this album is definitely not Siren Songs, but I find myself actually wanting to relisten to this album pretty frequently, something that just didn't happen with the last one!
"These are our lives, but did they ever even matter - are we worth remembering?"
- "Tip The Scales"
Rise Against
Baton Rouge
You're welcome. I will have to give this another shot.
Boobs
http://thenicsperiment.blogspot.com/
Kansas
This is the blandest album this year imo.
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Colorado
I couldn't agree more. I am a diehard Rise Against fan and even after numerous listens, outside a couple songs, I just do not see myself going back to this.
Minnesota
Not bad. I expected to dislike this album or at least not give a shit about it, but there are a handful of songs that have some catchy choruses that keep me coming back. Not the band's best, but this could have been way, way, way worse than it is. Thumbs up from me.
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Copperas Cove, TX
More or less agree with you but I just had that familiar feeling of having heard this before.
"Let no one know that God hasn’t any friends and if wilderness is found laid out across your heart, then child I do understand that you haven’t a clue of where to start." -Me.