Album Review: Rise Against - 'The Black Market'

Rise Against have both gained and lost a lot of fans due to the mainstream rock tweaks to their sound over the last few albums. Here, on the band's seventh record 'The Black Market', the group looks to toggle the line between old and new more so than on the last few outings.

Opening track 'The Great Die-Off' explodes with punk rock aggression and Tim McIlrath's uniquely gritty vocals, showing that the band still has plenty of angst. Lyrically, McIlrath is being very precise with his usually (and already) clear messages, but this time with a more personal feel behind them. The record is not a happy one, the Rise Against are angry. The introduction speaks straight away about how it is time for the out-of-date ways of thinking from older generations to pass, adapt and evolve or die.

The band, in various interviews and bios, will have you believe that this sounds unlike any other Rise Against record. This however is not the case, this record is incredibly Rise Against, however it seems more defined, like it took seven albums for the band to realise their strengths and apply that knowledge to every second of this album.

The single 'I Don't Want To Be Here Anymore' is as catchy as it is aggressive, an impressive feat to create something that is so melody heavy and single worthy yet rooted in a sense of punk rock that most modern punk rock acts are unable to replicate.

McIlrath has come a long way as a vocalist and flexes this muscle with the smallest of little inflections that could even pass by unnoticed but really bring this record to another level. 'The Eco-Terrorist In Me' will recall the energy and aggression of the band's earliest days while 'Tragedy Time' is an uplifting punk rock number full of hopeful melodies and fist pumping riffs.

Things get super political on 'A Beautiful Indifference', a song written about the Occupy movement, which personalises things further for the band, showing that the ideals they have always sung about truly do affect their personal lives and thoughts as well as their music. 

Rise Against have made their seventh record 'The Black Market,' the kind of album that will satisfy anyone who has ever been a fan of this band at any point during their career.

1. The Great Die-Off

2. I Don't Want to Be Here Anymore

3. Tragedy + Time

4. The Black Market

5. The Eco-Terrorist In Me

6. Sudden Life

7. A Beautiful Indifference

8. Methadone

9. Zero Visibility

10. Awake Too Long

11. People Live Here

12. Bridges