Rise Against

Rise Against

“THE SUFFERER & THE WITNESS”

RATING: 3 SOUND LEVELS.

The fist-pumping melodic punk of this Chicago quartet has made Warped Tour ’06 headliners Rise Against a steady, dependable draw for years. The raw, punchy sound here is polished to a shine with instantly likable, socially aware tracks “Ready to Fall,” “Bricks” and “Injection” bringing together strong choruses from fine singer Tim Mcllrath and crunchy riffs for what will surely be crowd-roiling anthems this summer. Rise Against can’t be accused of sticking to formula–another highlight, “Roadside,” uses strings and a male/female vocal gambit–and it works.