Rise Against “The Black Market” Album Review
review by Erik Ghint
I believe that record reviews are the collective response of the author’s objective opinion and taste on music in general, combined, however, with some undisputed facts. This is an open letter to Rise Against concerning their latest record “The Black Market” released through Interscope Records on July 15th 2014.
The Great Die – Off
I Don’t Want to be Here Anymore
Tragedy + Time
The Black Market
The Eco-Terrorist In Me
Sudden Life
A Beautiful Indifference
Methadone
Zero Visibility
Awake Too Long
People Live Here
Bridges
Dear Rise Against,
I’m writing to you in a state of distress, now having listened to your latest record “The Black Market” a good number of times.
I consider myself to be a pretty big fan of yours. It goes without saying that I own every record you’ve released, I am old enough to have been following you from day one and the release of The Unraveling in 2001, I have travelled abroad twice to see you play live (no festivals, just you in a room packed with 600 people the first time, 3.500 people the second), since you’ve never played the shitty country I live in, I already knew of almost every single unreleased song of yours that later made the Long Forgotten Songs comp, I even bought that first Documentary DVD you made in 2006 called Generation Lost and have watched it more than once… You will excuse me for passing on the second one you did.
I believe that 2006’s The Sufferer and the Witness is your best work to date, Siren Song of the Counter Culture being a close second. The Sufferer and the Witness actually holds a steady place in my top 5 punk records of all time. On the other hand I consider Appeal to Reason to be your least good effort and haven’t felt any outspoken excitement since then, plus have never been insanely impressed by your live performances. When Endgame came out in 2011 I was slightly relieved, it being better than your previous release, but still nowhere near the perfection achieved in the past, so when I got “The Black Market” I was aching with curiosity and hope.
I must say that “The Black Market” is the first of any of your releases where I don’t like the opening song. The Great Die – Off has a nice bridge/third verse to it. That’s all.
At first I didn’t get why I Don’t Want to be Here Anymore was the first single of the record, but I understand now. Its catchy intro guitar riff, the great verse built up and the beautiful chorus make it a stand out song of the record, compared, of course, to the rest. It is no coincidence that the two pop-ier songs of “The Black Market” namely Tragedy + Time and, later, Methadone are some of my favorite numbers on the record. This is a good thing yes, but it should also trouble you, since I don’t think you consider yourselves a pop – punk band.
The Eco-Terrorist In Me and Bridges are also songs I liked in the sense that I am keen to listen to them when putting on “The Black Market”; they would never make the cut on a record like The Sufferer and The Witness or Revolutions Per Minute for example though.
Awake Too Long on the other hand is by far my favorite song on the record. Great intro, variety in the verses, super melodic chorus, no complications or over thinking. Every other song on “The Black Market” I would probably skip. There are parts of songs I enjoy like the pre-chorus of the title song and Zero Visibility or the last part of every chorus and the bridge in A Beautiful Indifference but that’s not good enough.
Please don’t get me wrong. The record is very good compared to almost anything in that genre or even in general right now and I actually have listened to it much more than a lot of other mediocre stuff that has come out in the past months but you’re – or rather you should be – far ahead of all of that anyway, having set the bar at the highest possible level over the years, especially in the past. All of you are amazing musicians, songs have been put together perfectly before and too many times to mention, Tim has one of the most distinct and amazing voices out there with a ton of potential, lyrically you combine quality and resilience, you’re still very politically charged through all the corporate madness that surrounds the band, it is definitely no coincidence you’ve become this big. Still, a part of the Rise Against magic has been lost, I assure you. It’s not because of the major label influence, not because of the lack of faster songs or the screaming (even though they are missed), not because of a shift in trends or a loss of talent.
I read somewhere that you think “The Black Market” is something new, not a continuation of previous releases, rather a record with more things to offer musically and a different darker approach lyrically. I can say without a doubt that the past four records sound almost exactly the same from a production point of view, there are now too many breakdowns in a lot of the songs and a lot of complexity – the bad side of variety – and you’ve done too many acoustic songs; once was good enough. Lastly, that record cover and artwork are terrible, but then again your records never stud out because of their artwork.
Most people don’t pay that much attention to lyrics anymore and enjoy well structured catchy punk rock songs with good bridge parts and choruses that stick to your head like glue. Occasionally some aggressiveness is very much appreciated.
“The Black Market” to my ears is somewhere in the range of Appeal to Reason and Endgame, but still miles away from any previous work. Go back to those older records, even to the songs you recorded and released as b-sides, because to be honest I don’t see “how you will be surviving” through more than another medium scaled record and you are definitely still very far from being a medium scaled band.
Much respect
Your fan.
About the Author
Erik Ghint Athens, Greece PWV role : Reviewer Erik was born and has always lived in Athens, Greece. Terrible place but good weather. Studied law and played music on the side, now is a part time lawyer and part time punk rocker. Split personalities are his thing. Still listens to punk rock after 20 years, loves discovering new bands and is nostalgic about punk rock of the nineties. Diss him about his reviews @ https://www.facebook.com/bandage.punkrock.3
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