Rise Against

Appeal to Reason

(Geffen / Interscope)

Record Review by Adam McKibbin

The Left faces an interesting crossroads in the wake of Barack Obama’s electoral triumph.  A group of left-leaning bloggers and pundits who rose to relevance as the Internet became a pivotal player in the political world will no longer have villains like Bush and Cheney and Ashcroft and Rumsfeld and Gonzales and Wolfowitz (ad nauseum) looming over them and, by extension, defining them.  Young protesters and grassroots activists on the Left may very well remain “the opposition,” but the distance between them and the powers-that-be just narrowed.  Late night comedians are waiting for an angle to take on Obama (surely all too aware that W’s angle and Clinton’s angle were very obvious already by the time of their election).  And then there are the punks.  There’s a whole PunkVoter generation that knows nothing but Bush.  Anyone But Bush.  Now that they’ve gotten their wish – and gotten it in a very dramatic way – what will become of them?

Rise Against promises not to go anywhere – and they’ve always been a band that sees a bigger picture beyond the occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania.  Appeal to Reason neatly wraps up the angst and despair of the Bush Administration’s long eight years.  “Collapse (Post-Amerika)” raises a warning cry from the very beginning; this is something of a habit for the band, as it’s in the lineage of Siren Song of the Counter Culture’s blistering opener “State of the Union.”  Singer Tim McIlrath paints a picture of climate change and endless suburban sprawl and failed wars – and that’s all on the first track.  From there, the anthems come fast and furious.  “From Heads Unworthy” presents an indictment of a disgraced leader, followed with a hopeful chorus that sounds like it was written as the election returns came in (“As their castles crumble slowly / We watch them fall / The crown slips from heads unworthy / As we take control”).  But while Appeal to Reason – which draws its name from an important left-wing newspaper of the early 1900s – certainly does have those ripped-from-the-headlines moments, McIlrath mostly avoids drawing direct lines, meaning the album will have a longer shelf life than, say, Living With War or an “Impeach Bush Now” T-shirt.

McIlrath is in typically fine form, packing a visceral punch whether singing about a decaying world or a personal relationship knocked off the rails.  Rise Against’s rhythm section has become a truly tight machine, and they’ve clearly developed a comfort level with producers Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore.  In fact, Appeal to Reason may sound a little too comfortable; almost every chorus is blown up to KROQ-friendly pop-rock levels with layers and layers of “Hey!” and “Whoa!” harmonies.  Some of the rough edges and raw nerves of their earlier work is sandpapered away in the process.

The album’s most jarring track is a sad, sparse acoustic ballad called “Hero of War,” inspired by real-life accounts of horrors witnessed and carried out in Iraq.  Even in 2008, a lot of people in America are uncomfortable acknowledging stories that depict soldiers behaving in anything other than a heroic manner.  That soft focus serves no one well, of course, and McIlrath’s protagonist comes home seeming to harbor some resentment for the people waiting back home who want to subject him to it; the hero’s welcome he once imagined no longer seems so appropriate.  This song, too, has a brief bit of overkill; the narrative has its own powerful climax and doesn’t need the “here’s the big ending” swell in the otherwise sparse arrangement.  Still, it’s a testament to what McIlrath and Rise Against are all about – and have always been about.  One of the sloppiest mainstream reviews of Appeal to Reason wished that the guys from Chicago could copy the “genuine outrage of brainy Green Day.”  Whatever faults Rise Against may have, lack of sincerity and smarts shouldn't be on the list of anyone who's really listening.