Appeal To Reason

[nufan]

Has anyone else listened to or gone out and bought this?

They just keep getting better and better, i know i'll probably cop alot for that but it is true.

I love all of Rise Againsts work, Sufferer And The Witness was a great album, every song was decent.

IMO this is an awesome follow up album, from the opening track through.

So far Hero Of War is my fav song of the album, they apparently got stories of real soldiers and then wrote a song about it.

any opinions EWBers

[IAceI]

Ugh. Ugh. UGH.

Collapse (Post Amerika)

The Dirt Whispered

Kotov Syndrome

Entertainment

Savior

are probably the 5 songs I like. The rest is either "meh" or shit.

Hero of War may possibly be the biggest pile of fucking shite ever. It makes "Swing Life Away" look like the greatest song from their catalogue.

Better and Better? When they released Revolutions Per Minute? - It's getting better and better? The album is average at best.

And Hero of War is fucking wank.

There are some... decent songs on it, but they're not nearly as good as the stuff from RPM.

And Hero of War is absolutely appauling. It sounds more like fucking Nickelback than Rise Against. I've said a few times, that if this was just some random band I'd never heard of - i'd probably think it was a decent album. But with songs like Like The Angel, Torches, Voices off Camera and other songs in their history, these songs just don't even hold a candle to what Rise Against were.

Hero of War is shit.

End.

Edited October 14, 2008 by IAceI

[Cactus Drags]

Has anyone else listened to or gone out and bought this?

They just keep getting better and better, i know i'll probably cop alot for that but it is true.

I love all of Rise Againsts work, Sufferer And The Witness was a great album, every song was decent.

IMO this is an awesome follow up album, from the opening track through.

So far Hero Of War is my fav song of the album, they apparently got stories of real soldiers and then wrote a song about it.

any opinions EWBers

Please tell me you know they've had albums before TSATW, because that reads like you think Appeal to Reason is their second album. I'm a little easier on AceYI on their newe stuff, but it's certainly not getting better and better. Do yourself a favour and pick up Revolutions Per Minute or The Unravelling. Hell, even Siren Song of the Counter Culture will do.

[IAceI]

AceYI? The fuck? I'm assuming it's some dig at me in jest anyways.

Hero of War is shit - you forgot that bit Dragsy.

[Cactus Drags]

It was!

And it is!

[YI]

WANK! WANK! WNAKN! WANK! WANK! WANK! WANK! WANK! WANK! WANK! WANK! QANK! WANK! WANK! WANKW! WANK! WANK! WANK! WANK! WANK! WANK! PURE UNADULLARATED WANK!

[New Damage]

So this album isn't very good then right?

I've got the other four, and for me personally Siren Song >= Sufferer > RPM > Unravelling. I guess that that punky-hardcore stuff doesn't appeal to me as much. (Though 'Like The Angel' is good off RPM)

But either way, I've just gone way off Rise Against. I haven't listened to them for ages, and was thinking about getting this when I heard they were making it ages back, but probably won't now.

[nufan]

I know this isn't their second album and have been listening to them since they got signed to Fat Wreck Chords and released The Unravelling.

IMO the sufferer and the witness was a step in the right direction. Siren Songs and RPM sounded very raw which is good but now their voice has matured alot and adapted with times.

But im not some run of the mill new fan who heard swing life away then ran out to get their latest album when Sufferer came out.

[stephenbutler]

I guess people have different musical tastes...I'm inclined to agree with nufan...I REALLY enjoyed this album, especially Hero of War...though I do say the SatW was better than this...but overall it is still a good album, and it is a lot better than the shite being produced by The Jonas Brothers or Metro Station!

[nufan]

I guess people have different musical tastes...I'm inclined to agree with nufan...I REALLY enjoyed this album, especially Hero of War...though I do say the SatW was better than this...but overall it is still a good album, and it is a lot better than the shite being produced by The Jonas Brothers or Metro Station!

AGREED!

thats the Jonas Brothers/Metro Station thing

there is so much crap out there at the moment, which i spose is the reason this appeals (no pun intended) to me. Tim sings with a lot of conviction and pride and it just doesnt seem like a constructed peice of crap that the radio moguls can pawn off to teenies

[YI]

Jesus Christ! "Hero Of War" may quite possibly be the worst song I have heard in fucking ages. First off, it's dull as fuck. Secondly, the lyrics are fucking shite.

A hero of war

Yeah that's what I'll be

And when I come home

They'll be damn proud of me

I'll carry this flag

To the grave if I must

Because it's flag that I love

And a flag that I trust

Eugh. I fucking hate 'soldier at war' songs, as they're generally so lyrically insincere. Strung Out did one on their last album ("Letter Home"), and I fucking hate it. It's quite possibly the only Strung Out song I hate bringing myself to listen to. But this is seriously one of the worst of the lot. I thought I'd heard lyrical shit (from a good band) enough with "Over & Out" by Alk3, but no, then this absolute piece of badger wank came along and proved me wrong. Plus...IT'S SO FUCKING DULL!!!

Oh, and you bring up the Jonas Brothers. Quite funny, as the general concenscous about, is that RA are basically becoming a glorified pop-punk band. And it's true. I really quite like "The Sufferer & The Witness", but it was too 'nice'. SSOTCC had a very glossy (ridiculously glossy) sound, but you could really hear the vocal passion, plus it still had the badass screams. You talk about passion, you honestly can't say anything on the past 2 albums has even touched the likes of "State Of The Union" or "Tip The Scales". Everything here sounds far too flat and overproduced. Yes, Tim has a great voice, but it's not until you go back and listen from SSOTCC back over, you realise how bored he actually sounds.

What saddens me is, they still HAVE IT! It's just they are insisting on putting a bunch of mid-tempo bollocks on the album. The same mid-tempo bollocks that absolutely KILLED "Siren Song..." (It's even worse than Siren Song here...at least Siren Song, the slow songs still had badass moments). Hell, I can stomach the ridiculously poppy numbers like "The Dirt Whispered", as hell, they're catchy...and the first 9 seconds sound like it's something off "The Unraveling". I'll even take the P!ATD! style interlude in "Entertainment" as it's a badass song, and it actually works. So I'm not afraid of change, it's just, the mid-tempo shit is a change in the wrong direction. Oh and fucking "Audience Of One"! WHO THE FUCK'S IDEA WAS IT TO PUT A FUCKING ROCK BALLAD ON A RISE AGAINST CD!!!! I honestly didn't think they could produce a tune I'd hate more than "The Approaching Curve", and they've done it, fucking tenfold. At least "...Curve" had that badass riff towards the end.

Needs to be less glossy. Less mid-tempo bollocks. More shouting stuff. There's literally been NOTHING on the last two albums...yet, live he does it...hell all the live videos of "Bricks" I've seen have been SHOUTED LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER! I love that tune (probably my favourite on TSATW), but it'd be so much better if it was like that on record. But to be fair, it's not really the lack of screaming that bothers me, as I said, I really quite liked TSATW, it's just they've produced a bunch of bland, mid-tempo tunes here. I much prefer the tunes on SSOTCC (although that production will haunt me forever).

They're stuck in the Bad Religion rut. And like Bad Religion, they wont get better until they get off a major. I know it's an awful/clichéd thing to say, but it's true.

YI's Rise Against rundown;

THE UNRAVELING:

EPIC TUNES

Alive & Well

My Life Inside Your Heart

Six Ways Til' Sunday

Reception Fades

Stained Glass & Marble

Everchanging

Sometimes Selling Out Is Giving Up

3 Day Weekend

Weight of Time

Faint Resemblance

GOOD TUNES

Great Awakening

401 Kill

The Art Of Losing

Remains Of Summer Memories

The Unraveling

1000 Good Intentions

BAD TUNES

n/a

REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE

EPIC TUNES

Black Masks And Gasoline

Heaven Knows

Dead Ringer

Like The Angel

Voices Off Camera

Blood Red, White & Blue

Broken English

Last Chance Blueprint

Torches

Amber Changing

GOOD TUNES

Halfway There

To The Core

BAD TUNES

n/a

SIREN SONG OF THE COUNTER CULTURE

EPIC TUNES

State Of The Union

Tip The Scales

GOOD TUNES

Life Less Frightening

Paper Wings

To Them These Streets Belong

Give It All

Dancing For Rain

Rumours Of My Demise...

BAD TUNES

The First Drop

Blood To Bleed

Anywhere But Here

Swing Life Away

THE SUFFERER & THE WITNESS

EPIC TUNES

Chamber The Cartridge

Bricks

Worth Dying For

The Good Left Undone

Survive

GOOD TUNES

Done With The Compass

Under The Knife

Diaspora

Drones

Behind Closed Doors

Roadside (but what the fuck's it doing on a RA CD)

BAD TUNES

Ready To Fall

The Approaching Curve

APPEAL TO REASON

EPIC TUNES

Entertainment

GOOD TUNES

Collapse (Post-Amerika)

The Dirt Whispered

Kotov Syndrome

Saviour

BAD TUNES

Long Forgotten Sons

Re-Education (Through Labor)

From Heads University

The Strength To Go On

Audience Of One

Hero Of War

Hairline Fracture

Whereabouts Unknown

What I love though, is that most of the 'kids' that will be fucking bumming Rise Against, will verbally shit all over U2...where (minus the guitar effects) they're basically becoming the same band. Their styles are getting closer (especially with the cut in tempo), and they both preach like cunts...I mean, all well and good getting your opinions out there, using your status...but to do it during music videos...where it's totally unconnected to the song, is abusing your position.

Seriously, I never thought there'd be a RA album that made me re-listen to SSOTCC and think "You know what, this isn't that bad"...seriously...I hadn't listened to that album (outside of "State Of The Union" and "Tip The Scales") in about 2 years...and then this wank came along, and I crave it.

[Skummy]

I guess people have different musical tastes...I'm inclined to agree with nufan...I REALLY enjoyed this album, especially Hero of War...though I do say the SatW was better than this...but overall it is still a good album, and it is a lot better than the shite being produced by The Jonas Brothers or Metro Station!

AGREED!

thats the Jonas Brothers/Metro Station thing

there is so much crap out there at the moment, which i spose is the reason this appeals (no pun intended) to me. Tim sings with a lot of conviction and pride and it just doesnt seem like a constructed peice of crap that the radio moguls can pawn off to teenies

Ugh. Context is irrelevant. Why should we listen to something sub-par just because someone else is doing something worse? Find something better. Don't listen to crap just because "there is so much crap out there at the moment". You're on the internet, you've got a fucking world and a complete history of music at your fingertips.

[apsham]

People confined to mediocrity breed mediocrity. :@